


The Owl and The Cat

by Mertens



Series: Peach Dream Universe [1]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Magic, Post-Movie(s), clever goblins, kind of, other dimensions, the Labyrinth as a character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-05 01:31:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertens/pseuds/Mertens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"On the 13th Anniversary of Sarah defeating Jareth, she has a chance to return to the labyrinth. When she gets there, strange things are going on that she doesn't quite understand. Has the labyrinth brought her back to become the Queen? And where is Jareth?"</p><p>As seen on fanfiction.net!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fan fiction! :D
> 
> I'd love to hear your reviews and thoughts!

Sarah Williams groaned as the alarm clock proudly beeped in her face. She slammed her hand down on the snooze button. She was still far too tired from last night. She had been covering another employee's shift at the restaurant, and she had ended up working until 11 o'clock that night. One of the customers (a bratty little child) had tripped her while she had been carrying a large tray of food. Everything had come crashing down, covering herself, the customers, several tables, and a fairly large sized portion of the floor with broken dishes and various foods. Her boss had been quick to inform her that everything that was broken was coming out of her paycheck. She sighed now as she thought of it again, and tried to bring her mind back the present. She sat up in bed and looked over at the calendar on the wall. Her breath caught in her throat. It was August 23rd. With everything being so busy and hectic, she had almost forgotten. It had been 13 years since that day.

She scolded herself in her mind, how could she have almost forgotten? It was a very important day to her. Still, she thought, her old friends had forgotten about her… She hadn't seen them in so long. As she got up and began to get dressed for the day she thought back over the years. That night when she had just defeated the Labyrinth and everyone was in her room with her, she had told them that she needed them. And she had needed them. So they kept coming back to see her. 

They were there for her all throughout the rest of high school. They would come and visit at least one a week, and she would tell them all about her evil teachers, what the popular girls had done, and her homework. Sometimes they would come and just sit in her room with her as she did her homework, because when you're that good of friends, you don't always need to talk. It was enough to know that they were there with each other. 

When she graduated from high school and was getting ready for college, some of her friends started coming less often, but the mains ones were still there for her. Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, they still came to see her during college. They didn't come as often, maybe once or twice a month, but they still came. But little by little, by the time she had finished her bachelor's degree, all of them had stopped coming. 

She frowned as she thought of it now. Her masters degree in mythology hung on the wall, a reminder of how hard she had worked to get it. Normally when she looked at it, she felt proud of the things she had done. But when she looked at it today, all she could think of was how she had gotten this degree alone, with no friends by her side to cheer her on. She gently touched the edge of the frame. She would have loved for her friends to to have seen her learning about all the creatures and stories, and to see the looks on their faces as she told them about the things she had learned. But there was no one there for her to tell. Not even Ludo.   
She turned around and tried to push it all out of her mind. Sometimes people just grow apart, she told herself. She certainly hadn't kept in touch with any human friends from all her years of school. It still made her feel wistful, though, because she had thought her friends from the Labyrinth would always be there for her. 

She had started working at the restaurant when she had started working on her masters degree. It was just a way to pay bills, she had told herself, she wouldn't do this forever. When she graduated, she would get a real job, something related to her degree. She had told herself that for so long that when she did graduate and didn't find a job right away, she told herself that it was ok to stay at the restaurant for just a little longer… It had now been two years since she graduated, and she was still at the restaurant. Although she would never say so out loud, she was afraid that she would never leave the restaurant, never find another job, and just be… Ordinary. What she did say out loud was that the restaurant was still just temporary, that she was looking for another job, and that she was going to do great things. But deep down, she doubted it. 

Thirteen years, she thought as she walked out to her car. Had it really been that long ago? She pushed it out of her mind once more. Sticking the key into the steering wheel, she focused on what she needed to do today. Groceries, then work. She cringed a little as thought of going back to work after what happened last night. That's when she realized she had been turning the key for several minutes. It was't starting. "No, no, no! Not again!" Her car was very old and run down. She had often said that it didn't matter what the car looked like, as long as it ran, it was just fine. Now it wouldn't even do that. She punched the steering wheel and then leaned her forehead against it. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "Why can't anything just go right?" she muttered to herself. It had been such a stressful time recently. "I wish…" Sarah stopped herself before she said the rest of that sentence. She hadn't used those two words for 13 years. She sniffed. No, she wouldn't let today get the best of her. She would walk to the store. She got out and started the mile long trek to the store. The weather was so strange today. It was overcast and cloudy, and the wind was blowing in the most peculiar way. It was almost as though a thunderstorm was coming, and Sarah could feel the electricity in the air. There were very few people out and about, so the sidewalk was almost deserted.

It wasn't until she was halfway to the grocery store she noticed something in the window of a little store that seemed to sell dresses. She stopped and stared with a gaping mouth. There in the window was a dress that looked all too familiar. The gold and silver embroidery covered the creamy fabric that bunched together in frills and ruffles and wrapped around the mannequin just so. It almost seemed to mock Sarah as it stood there, so perfect and pristine, exactly as it looked 13 years ago when she had worn it. She looked around but there was no one else out on the streets. She pulled on the door handle to the store, but it was locked. She took one last look at the dress, scowled at it, and started to walk away from it. As she turned, though, she didn't notice that someone was walking towards her and she bumped right in to them. "Why don't you watch where you're going, little girl?" a cruel voice snickered. Sarah looked up and gasped. From a brief moment, she was certain the person had been wearing a strange mask with a very long nose. When she blinked however, it was just a regular person. He hadn't even stopped, and he was still walking down the sidewalk and away from Sarah. She took a deep breath. "Ok, Sarah," she said out loud to herself. "Pull yourself together. You're just getting sentimental. That dress is… Just a coincidence. That guy… Just your imagination! Let's just go to the store, get some food, and go home!" She continued on her way to the store, trying to come up with some reasonable explanations for what had just happened. 

When she got to the store she had almost convinced herself that she hadn't even seen anything in dress store window. She picked up a little shopping basket and began to walk up and down the rows, picking out a few things. Every so often she would hear a little noise, like little feet running around, or tiny voices laughing. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it. This is not happening, she told herself. Everything is fine - just keep getting your groceries! As she walked up and down the isles she noticed something she found very strange. There were no other people in the store. No customers. No employees, at least none she could see. Inside the store, too, was that strange electricity feeling. It seemed like something was just around the corner, waiting for her to discover it. She tried to ignore this feeling, but the longer she shopped, the stronger it grew.

And then, there it was. Right there, in the middle of the dairy shelf. Between the yogurt and the sour cream there was large, gaping hole. It was as though something had tunneled out of the earth itself. There were a few pale bricks laying just inside of the tunnel, and small delicate vines with tiny flowers were reaching out. A dusting of frost covered the inside, and some spilled out onto the grocery store floor. Sarah looked around in disbelief. There was no one else around, but she felt sure she could hear goblin voices coming from somewhere inside the store. She set down her grocery basket and tip-toed closer to the tunnel. As she drew nearer, a cold breeze issued from the tunnel and wrapped around her, almost pulling her in. Before she could stop herself, she reached a hand towards the darkness inside the tunnel. As she did do she could hear a faint voice whispering, but she couldn't tell what it was saying. She pulled her hand back quickly and voice died away. She shivered. Everything was eerily quiet. She thought of her friends who would be waiting for her on the other side, and of the adventure they could have together. She missed them so much it hurt. Then she thought of what she would be going home to - a tiny little apartment and a crummy job. She hadn't realized it until this moment, but she longed for an adventure. It was why she had majored in mythology, to be able to spend time in a world so unlike her own. She looked back one last time at the world she was about to leave and took a deep breath. Her boss would just have to be one waitress short for tonight, she thought to herself with a grin. She stepped inside the tunnel and didn't look back.


	2. 2

Once inside the tunnel everything went dark. For a brief moment Sarah felt panic rising up and she almost regretted going inside. But as she took a few steps forward it gradually began to get lighter and soon she was standing on the little hill overlooking the labyrinth. Sarah gasped. Thirteen years ago, she was standing in this very spot. She was overcome with happiness. Never had she realized just how much she missed this place. She couldn't wait to see her old friends. In the back of her mind, though, a nagging thought began to form. What would Jareth say when he saw her? She wasn't sure how she felt about seeing him again. She set off towards the labyrinth with a spring in her step. As she got closer she began to notice something was different. 

Surely the labyrinth hadn't always looked this run down? It had always looked a little unkempt, but now it looked like whoever was taking care of it had just given up entirely. She reached the gates of the labyrinth and stopped. Last time she had to have Hoggle open the gates for her to enter the labyrinth, but now the gates were broken open and falling off their hinges. Looking at them in this condition made her feel a little apprehensive. What had happened here? She took a slower pace and went inside the gates. Biting her lip, she tried to remember which way the worm the had told her to go. She took the path to right and smiled a little as thought back to when the worm was in her room one day. He had become so upset when he realized that Sarah had wanted to get to the castle, and that he had told her the wrong way. Sarah had tried her best to cheer him up, telling him that everything had worked out ok, it didn't matter, and after all, how else would she have met all her friends if she had just gone straight to the castle? 

She hadn't seen the worm in so long, and the unwelcome thought of not knowing how long labyrinth worms lived cropped up in her mind. On the twenty minute walk to the castle she encountered quite a few pieces of the walls had that fallen down, vines grown over mostly everything, and every so often a breeze would blow through, scattering frost all around. When she got to the castle, she found the door was ajar. She paused here, not wanting to be rude and barge in, but at the same time anxious to go inside and see who was there. She kicked the dirt with her toe. What would she say to Jareth? She shook her head. Here she was, a grown up woman of 28, and feeling like little school girl… She walked inside. 

"W - What happened here?" she asked aloud in disbelief. Everything was covered in dust, dirt, and chicken feathers. The wind had blown leaves in, and everywhere she looked the place had the feeling of begin abandoned. She crossed her arms and took a few more steps inside. It definitely hadn't looked like this the last time she was here. She froze when she heard a rattling noise.It grew louder and louder, and suddenly from one of the hallways appeared a small goblin. He was only about two feet tall, and he was dressed in ragged clothing. He seemed to be muttering a little song to himself, and he didn't see notice Sarah standing there. Sarah relaxed when she saw him. She didn't recognize him, but she used to talking to goblins, and this was the first person she had seen since entering the Underground. "Hello there!" she called out to him. "What's your name?"

The little goblin stopped and stared at her in disbelief. He then looked around, feeling sure that she could not be talking to him. Sarah nodded her head and came closer to him. "Yes, you! It's ok - I'm a friend." she encouraged. "What's your name?"   
The goblin looked like he was thinking hard. "Name? Name… Name is… Brax!" he smiled as he remembered his own name. "Not many people talk to Brax - almost forgot name!" 

Sarah smiled at the little fellow. "That's ok, Brax. My name is Sarah. This place looks deserted, is there anyone else here?"  
Brax looked like he just remembered something important. "Sarah is a human?" he asked.   
"Yes, that's right!" she said.

"Oh." Brax nodded. "Um, Brax supposed to tell the humans that King not here right now, and human no can wish away kiddies until king comes back. Sorry human!" Brax shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the door. "You gotta go now."  
Sarah was surprised at this. "Oh! No, Brax, I'm not here to wish anyone away - I came here to visit my friends!" she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "And what do you mean, the King's not here?"

"Brax not know where King is, Brax just know what to tell humans." he chewed on one of his fingernails and looked away from Sarah. He had one job entrusted to him, and so far Sarah was the only human he had seen. He was a little disappointed that the message he had been in charge of delivering was not needed. Sarah cleared her throat. "Well, Brax, is there anyone else in the castle besides yourself? And do you know someone named Hoggle, by any chance?" Maybe Jareth was just out for the day, but she couldn't imagine he would have let the castle get so dirty.

Brax shook his head. "Brax only one in castle right now. Not know who Hoggle is. But maybe I go get other goblins for Sarah to talk to?" his face perked up a little at the thought of being useful.  
"Sure! I'll stay right here and wait for you, ok?"

"Ok!" Brax happily ran out the door to look for some other goblins. Sarah was now all alone in the castle. She stood there awkwardly for a moment before deciding to look around. After all, she told herself, if Jareth didn't want people looking around the castle, why would he leave the doors open? She noticed a large spiral staircase, but decided to leave this for later and look around the downstairs first. The first room she found was the kitchen. There were stacks and stacks of old dishes waited to be washed, and cupboard drawers hanging open. It smelled somewhat unpleasant, so Sarah didn't stick around in this room. Several of rooms she couldn't quite tell what they were, but if she had to guess, she would have said they were the Underground equivalent of an office. Pieces of parchments covered the desks, bottles of ink were lying about and none of these rooms seemed very inviting. She crept into the first one of these rooms and took a peek at the parchment to see what was written on it. It appeared to be some strange language, and even though she was familiar with many odd languages because of her studies, she wasn't able to read these. The handwriting, though, was strong and flowing and seemed to command respect. After realizing there wasn't any information she could glean from the contents of these rooms, she skipped looking in them when she found ones that were similar. 

At the end of a long hallway was a set of very large doors. They were not open, but they weren't locked, either. Really, Sarah thought, what's the point of coming this far and not going just a little farther? She opened up the doors. Inside was a ballroom, but not the ballroom from her peach dream. This one was very large, and very grand. White pillars stood around the edges of the room and sparkling chandeliers hung from the ceiling. It was beautiful, but she was sure it would have looked even better had it not been covered with dust. Not wanting to disturb anything in the room, she left and closed the door. It was bringing back too many memories of her dream, and she didn't want to deal with those memories right then.

The last room that she found on the downstairs level was the throne room. This was the only room so far that looked like maybe someone had been in it recently. Still, it was very messy and everywhere were those horrible chicken feathers. Barrels of some sort of drink lined the walls, and various sizes of cups and mugs were scattered about. It would seem the goblins had been having a party in this room at one point. The throne however, seemed to have quite a thick layer of dust. This made Sarah feel uncomfortable. How long had Jareth been gone? 

A fear passed through her mind that when she had seen him that last time and told him that he had no power over her, that she had really killed him. A cold rush came over her. She hadn't meant to hurt him, not like that. But surely, if he had died, wouldn't it have come up in some way when talking with her friends for all those years? Still, they had never mentioned anything about Jareth… She left the throne room quickly tried to think of something else. 

She realized that she had come to the end of the rooms on the downstairs. She hadn't heard any goblins yet, so she assumed Brax was still out looking. She wondered what was taking him so long, and hoped that he hadn't gotten distracted on the way and forgot what he was supposed to be doing. She felt a little excited as she climbed the spiral staircase. Last time she was here, she hadn't really had a chance to look around at anything. The castle really was quite interesting. Now that she wasn't desperately trying to save her little brother, she could enjoy everything around her. The architecture that had once seemed so cruel and forbidding now seemed intriguing and refined. Once upstairs, she found many of the rooms to be locked. After being unable to open the doors to four different rooms, she found one that was unlocked. As she opened the door her jaw dropped in shock. It was a library. But not just any library. 

It was the most wonderful library Sarah had ever laid eyes on. The walls were incredibly tall, and the bookshelves covered every inch of them, from the floor to the ceiling. It seemed to be illuminated by magic somehow, as the middle of the room was glowing but use couldn't see where the light source was. There was a large, very comfortable looking chair towards one side of the room, and a table nearby with several books on it. Sarah loved libraries, because in books you could find a whole new world. These books seemed to promise of tales filled with magic and wonder. She glanced across some of the titles. Some of them she could read, but some of them she couldn't. Judging by how clean the room was despite the dust, it was likely that the goblins weren't allowed in this room. It dawned on her that must be Jareth's private library. 

She felt peeved to think that the villain of her childhood shared the same interests as herself. Knowing that if she opened one of the books, she would be there all night, she decided to come back to this room later and keep looking around. The door next to the library was also locked, but the door right across from it wasn't. As she turned the doorknob it seemed to stick and for a second she thought it was locked as well, but it opened for her. As soon as she opened it and looked in, she closed it again. Surely, she thought, surely this is crossing a line! This room was Jareth's bedroom. You can't just go rummaging round in someone's bedroom, she told herself, especially when that someone was the Goblin King… She stood there for several minutes with her hand on the doorknob, fighting with herself about what to do. In the end curiosity won out, and she went inside the room. 

She couldn't help but feel like a little child sneaking into somewhere she knew she shouldn't be. She pushed this feeling down inside of her and started to look around. In the corner of the room was a large four poster bed with a canopy over it. Near it was a smaller door that she figured would lead to a closet. On the opposite wall was a dresser and a desk. The wall at the end of the room had a large fireplace, and Sarah was quite surprised to see that there was a low-burning fire in it. On the desk there was a small wooden box with curious carvings all over it. Against her better judgment, Sarah tried to open it, but it was sealed shut. Sarah yawned. The room had no windows, and between the low ceilings and the warm fireplace, it was making her sleepy. The bed was only half made, and the sheets looked so soft… She shook her head, trying to wake herself back up. You can't just fall asleep in the Goblin King's bed, Sarah! She chided herself. She left the room before she had a chance to think twice, and headed back to the library. While in the hallway she called out for Brax, but as she didn't hear an answer, she went into the library to read. 

With so many books, it hard to decide where to start. There was one book that caught her eye. It was one of the biggest books on the shelf, and the cover was a sparkling gold. It's title was simple - Labyrinth Magic. Sarah felt this might be a good place to start. She took the book over to the big chair and sat down. The book was mostly in english, but every so often the text would abruptly change to the strange language Sarah couldn't read. It was proving to be a difficult read, though, and not just because of the ever-changing text. The word themselves were confusing, and the order they were put in didn't seem quite right. It was speaking on the subject of those who ruled over the labyrinth. Sarah thought she understood parts of it, but other parts didn't make sense. It seemed to speak of the labyrinth as though it were an actual person. From what she could tell, it was the labyrinth that picked who ruled over it… But that didn't make sense. She frowned and skipped ahead in the book. Trying to figure out all these new terms and words was starting to give her a headache. She was pleased when she heard Brax calling for her. Se left the book on the table and made her way downstairs. Brax had returned with four other small goblins and a goblin lady, who was almost as tall as Sarah, but looked quite elderly. Sarah waved to the new goblins. "Hi guys!" she called as she walked down the stairs. The little goblins waved back at her. The old goblin lady, however, said something that took Sarah by surprise. 

"Lady Sarah! The labyrinth has been waiting for you for so long - welcome home!" 

Upon hearing these words, Sarah's blood ran cold.


	3. 3

"What do you mean?" Sarah tried to ask, but the little goblins had all run up to her and begun chattering. The old lady goblin didn't hear Sarah's question. 

"Everyone, come this way!" Brax shouted as he started to walk towards the throne room. "We can have party now!" The goblins ran after him and Sarah followed. Brax had brought a backpack with him, and when everyone was in the throne room he began to unpack it. He had brought breads and cheeses, and from somewhere in the room he found some plates. He began to split everything up and pass the plates around. Some of the small goblins picked up the cups that were lying around and used them for drinks. Sarah chewed on a piece of bread and waited for someone to say something. Surely the old lady would explain what was going on. Sarah was beginning to get the nasty feeling that Jareth had tricked her somehow. "So, Lady Sarah, are you glad to be back home?" the lady goblin broke the silence. Sarah ran her hands through her hair. "I'm not too sure what you mean. I thought I was just here to visit?"

The old lady looked at Sarah in disbelief. "Haven't you seen the terrible state of the labyrinth?" she asked her.  
"Well, yeah…" Sarah trailed off. She wasn't too sure what that had to do with anything.   
The old lady nodded as if that settled matters. "The king is gone. The labyrinth needs a new ruler." she stated matter-of-factly.   
"Wait, gone? Where did he go?" Sarah was confused.  
The goblins all looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.  
"King been gone a long time." Brax offered.

"No one is sure where he went. But none of that matters now that we have a new ruler!" the old lady smiled at Sarah.  
"Hold on, you mean I'm the new ruler?"  
The goblins all smiled happily and nodded.  
"But, you can't - I can't - I have a job back there!" she pointed up.  
"Well, now you gotta job down here!" Brax said.  
"It's all quite simple, dear. The labyrinth chose you. Now you are the new ruler." said the old lady.  
"Oh, no." Sarah groaned and put her face in her hands. "Is this what that book was talking about?"  
No one said anything. Sarah sighed. "Can you tell me how this came to be, exactly?"  
"Of course, Lady Sarah."   
"Please don't call me that…"  
"You see, the labyrinth is a living thing, but it needs someone to take care of it. It needs someone to rule over it. It gives it's ruler incredible power, and in turn, the labyrinth feeds off the energy of it's ruler. Without someone's energy to sustain it, it starts to fall apart. That's what you're seeing now." the old lady paused to take a sip from her mug.  
"You mean it's like… A parasite?" Sarah asked as she stared off in the distance. She was starting to understand more of what was in the book.

The old lady continued as if she hadn't heard what Sarah said.  
"With Jareth missing, it needed someone new. Since you have been here before, it must have reached out to you. You have ties to this place."  
"But how do you know that's why it wants me? How can you be sure?" Sarah didn't know what think of all this.  
The old lady chuckled. "Oh, don't worry! The labyrinth will let you know for sure!"  
Sarah looked across the room at the throne. From where she was sitting, it looked awfully big. How would she ever be able to be a good ruler? Some nights, she could't even keep the customers' food orders right. She sighed, wishing that the labyrinth would hurry up and let her know that it had made a mistake. "What about Jareth? What if he comes back?"  
The old lady looked a little uneasy. "The labyrinth wouldn't have picked a new ruler if there was a chance the old one would come back…"

Sarah didn't say anything. There were so many thoughts going around her head, she felt like if she opened her mouth she would puke. Luckily for her, an old familiar voice pulled her out of her thoughts.  
"Sarah, is you in here?"  
"Hoggle!" Sarah cried as she sprang to her feet. there he was, standing in the doorway of the throne room, looking just slightly older than the last time she had seen him. Sarah embraced her friend.  
"I've missed you, Sarah!"  
"I've missed you too!" She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Why did you stop visiting me?" A tear slid down her cheek. "And why didn't you tell me Jareth had died?"  
"What?" Hoggle stepped back. "That old rat ain't dead, not that I know of. And besides," he looked down at his feet, embarrassed. "It weren't my fault I stopped visiting. It was his." he snorted and nodded over at Jareth's throne. "But it's a long story, Sarah. Let me get somethin' to eat first?" he pleaded.

Sarah lost track of the time spent sitting on the floor of the throne room with Hoggle and her new friends. Brax had brought back quite a lot of food from Goblin City, and she was enjoying every minute of the little picnic despite the worries in the back of her mind. The pale sunlight filtered through the solitary window and the dust motes floating by seemed to make everything feel more peaceful. Sarah was able to relax a little as she listened to the goblins chatter on about idle gossip. She had missed hearing these kinds of stories so much. After the food was gone the old lady goblin stood up. "Come on, boys, let's clean this place up for Lady Sarah. We'll start with the kitchen." She led the goblins out of the room. Hoggle stayed behind.

For a minute neither of them said anything. Now that she was face-to-face with him again, Sarah couldn't help but feel a little hurt by her friend's long absence.   
"It's like you're all grown up now, Sarah." Hoggle started the conversation. "I remember it like it were yesterday, when you first came here and got your finger bit by that fairy." he chuckled to himself. "I feel real awful about not visiting, we all do. But there weren't nothing we could do about it - Jareth had put a seal on the Underground to keep us from leaving." he paused to take a sip of his drink.

"Why would he do that?" Sarah asked, but she had a feeling she knew the answer.  
"You shoulda seen him after we got back from that party, Sarah! I ain't never seen him so down before." he took a bite of bread and chewed it.  
Sarah remembered that party so well. Almost everyone she had met during her run had been there. Almost everyone. When she had looked into the mirror and said she need them, she had meant all of them. When she didn't see Jareth with them at the party, she had thought that meant he didn't want to see her again.

"I almost felt bad for the rat, Sarah. He musta moped around for over a month. I didn't think it could get worse than that." he sighed. "But then it did. For nearly a year not a day went by without at least three goblins getting bogged! His temper was somethin' terrible, and for Jareth, that's really saying somethin'! He was constantly brooding and alway had a sour look on his face. That bad mood of his lasted quite a long time, too. Dark times in the kingdom, they were. We alway tried to keep it real quiet when we went to see ya, and we were able to keep that up for a fair amount of time. But sooner or later, he was bound to find out about it, and he did. One of the goblins let it slip one day. Oh, the look on his face when he found out." Hoggle shuddered. "It still haunts me to the day! I thought for sure he was going to bog everyone in the castle right then and there! But he didn't. It was the not knowing what he was going to do that was the worst. Anyway, he started makin' life real bad for everyone who was going to visit you. One by one they started getting so scared they stopped coming to see ya. Well, ya know it went." Hoggle looked away, ashamed. "But us last three, we kept comin'. Me and Didymus and Ludo, we weren't scared away so easily. He figured this out, see, and put a magic seal on the Underground to keep anyone from leaving. That's why we stopped coming to see you, Sarah. If it were up to us, we woulda still been visiting you up to this very day. But there's no getting past Jareth's magic." Hoggle shook his head sadly. 

Sarah felt a little better knowing the reason behind her friends disappearance, but it didn't take away the loneliness of those years. She sighed. "Why did he have to be like that?" she asked softly. "It wasn't hurting anything to let you guys visit."  
Hoggle cleared his throat. "Actually, Sarah, I think he was jealous. He couldn't get over the fact that you never asked to see him."  
"What?" Sarah sputtered. "But - he's the one that didn't come in when I said I need you guys! I thought he didn't care about me anymore!"

"Well, Jareth's a proud man. I kinda think he was waiting for you to ask him to stay. He wouldn't wanna look like he needed anyone. He asked me one time, if you ever asked about him. You never had, so I couldn't say otherwise. I think that's what upset him the most."

Sarah felt a pang of regret. There had been several times throughout the years she had almost asked about Jareth. Times when just the simple question "How's the Goblin King?" longed to escape her lips, but the thought of how he didn't care about her made it seem silly to even ask. To think that all that time, he was waiting for her to make the first move… Maybe if she had just asked, things could have been so different. So willingly he had taken the role of villain for her, because it what was what she wanted. Would he also have become a friend, if she so desired it? 

She thought of how she went to prom alone, the only one without a date. She thought of all the holidays and vacations where she stayed home alone because she didn't want to spend them with her step-mother. All the Friday nights spent watching TV and eating ice cream because she didn't have any friends to do things with. Those lonely nights studying for tests when she could have used a friend to be there by her side. All the birthdays spent alone. All these thoughts flashed through Sarah's mind in an instant. It could have all been so different, if she had only asked.

"I don't think he ever really got over you leaving." Hoggle said quietly.  
Sarah rubbed her sleeve across her eyes. "But where did he go?" she asked with as strong a voice as she could manage.  
Hoggle shrugged. "Well, he had been acting real strange the past couple years. Sometimes he would disappear for days at a time. One time he spent a whole week away. No one knew where he went. He'd be real quiet when he got back, like something was bothering him, but he'd never say what was going on."

"Oh, Hoggle! Do you think he's in some kind of trouble?" Sarah picked at the fabric of her sleeve nervously.  
"Er, the way I hear it, Sarah, the labyrinth has picked you to be it's new ruler. Congrats on that, by the way! I never did say that, did I? Anyway, um, if the old ruler were coming back, it wouldn't need a new one, if you see what I mean."

Sarah stopped to think about this. What could this all mean? Jareth was never coming back?  
She saw the old lady goblin sweeping the hallway. She stood up and walked over to her. "So I'm the new Goblin Queen?" she asked.  
The old lady nodded. "That's right, dear."  
"And the labyrinth will give me magic?"  
She nodded again.  
"And… You all have to do what I say, right? And help me with whatever I want?"  
"Of course."  
Sarah looked down, not sure how to phrase her next question.  
"Do you think that there's… A chance… That the old king… Is still alive? Somewhere?"

The old lady consider this for a moment. "Well, in all my years of studying magic, I've found one thing to be true. Magic is tricky." she shook her head. "Sometimes something seems to be one way, but it's really another. I suppose, if you stop and think about it, just because the labyrinth needs a new ruler, it doesn't have to mean the king is dead - it just means he's currently unable to continue to be the ruler. But there's something else I've learned from working with magic. So many times, just when you think something is different from what it seems to be, it turns out to be what you thought it was in the first place." she stopped sweeping and looked Sarah in the eye. "That's how magic works, you know!"  
Sarah bit her lip. "Then, as the Goblin Queen, I have my first orders for you."  
All the goblins stopped what they were doing and gathered around her.  
"I'd like to say that all you are my friends. And friends help each other out, no matter what. So I'd also like to think that all of you are going to help me out with something."  
The goblins all nodded and looked at her eagerly.

"I'm going to find Jareth, and I need your help."


	4. 4

The goblins stared at her with gaping mouths. "But Sarah," Hoggle protested. "That's gonna be a waste of time! For all you know, he could b-"  
Sarah turned to Hoggle and put her hands on her hips. "You dare question your queen?" she demanded, hoping she sounded more confidant than she felt. It must have worked, because the little goblins became terrified and began running in circles and shrieking. Hoggle looked away. "Well, if it's what you want… Of course I'll help you. But I still don't see why you'd want that rat back , anyway."   
Sarah glanced out the window. The sun was already setting. "We can't go anywhere tonight, but we can start first thing in the morning. Can you guys get a group of goblins to be here tomorrow? The more people to help us, the better."  
"Brax can come early and make breakfast for her majesty?" he offered as he bowed.

Sarah patted him on the head. "That would be great, Brax. Does anyone have a spare room I can stay in for tonight?"  
Her question was met with blank stares. "The queen lives in the castle." the old lady said, almost indignantly.  
"Oh." Sarah scratched her head. "I forgot about that.. Well, I'll see you guys in the morning, I guess."  
She saw her guests to the door, and hugged her old friend one last time. She stood on the front steps watching them on the path to Goblin City until she could't see them anymore. The front doors were large and heavy, but she was able to close them. After she shut them and turned around, it finally hit her. This was her castle now, and would be until Jareth came back. If Jareth came back. She suddenly felt very alone. She walked to the throne room window and looked out of it. It was dark now, and small snowflakes were falling from the sky. She crossed her arms and shivered. Snow always put her in a wistful mood, she didn't know why, but it did. She stood there for a while watching it fall, and thinking about her life Aboveground. Did time pass differently down here? She wasn't sure. Was anybody up there missing her right now? She sighed. 

The way she saw it, there was a 50-50 chance she would be stuck down here forever. What if she never found Jareth? She wondered what would happen if she just left, escaped to the Aboveground, and didn't come back. Would the labyrinth pick someone else? She decided those were things to think about in the morning, not now. Right now, she just wanted to rest. It dawned on her that in the entire castle there was only one room she had found with a bed. Jareth's bedroom. It couldn't be helped, really. It's not like there was anywhere else for her to sleep, after all… She trudged up the stairs, telling herself that it would be fine. When she got inside the room, she felt herself blushing fiercely. Sleeping in someone else's bed was so awkward. It didn't help that every little thing in the entire room reminded her of him. The fire was still burning, and she assumed it must be a magic fire. At least it was warm in this room. She walked over to the bed and shook out the sheets. She didn't know how it was possible, but they were even softer than they looked. After she had straightened them out, she realized that she hadn't brought any pajamas with her. The jeans and t-shirt she was wearing wouldn't be very comfortable to sleep in. Besides that, they were covered in dust from sitting on the floor. She looked around, not sure what to do. That's when her eyes fell on the smaller door near the bed. Was it a closet? She went closer and laid her hand on the doorknob. Should she look inside? It was so strange to be in someone else's room, especially this person's room. She felt like she was intruding, but at the same time, she was almost enjoying it in an odd way. The indecision of what to do was too much for her, so she decided to get some books form the library to read. She picked up "Labyrinth Magic" again, hoping it would make a little more sense the second time around. She picked up a few more as well and headed back to her new bedroom. 

She set the books on the bed and turned to face the closet door again. If everyone was to be believed, this whole castle was hers now. That meant everything it was hers now, too. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She couldn't honestly say she had ever thought about what the Goblin King's closet would look like. But if she had to guess, she probably would have gotten pretty close to what it looked like. For such a little door, the closet itself was quite large. Sarah couldn't even see the end of it. It twisted and turned every which way, and every inch was packed with clothing and accessories. Sarah had to giggle as she looked around - Jareth owned more clothes than any woman she knew. The closet, like most of the rooms in the castle, was illuminated by magic, and everything glowed a pale blue. Many of the clothes were quite sparkly, and Sarah raised an eyebrow at a few of them. Finally she found what she was looking for. Just a plain, kind of long shirt. It seemed to be made out of silk. She took it with her and tried to find her way back to the door. She felt a little giddy. This was so unlike her! She normally was very respectful of other people's privacy, never going in their rooms without permission, and certainly never stealing their clothes and wearing them. 

Well, she tough to herself, things change. The hard stone floor was cold on the bottoms of her feet as walked over to the bed. The shirt she had found went halfway above her knees, and the sleeves were more than a little long. But that was to be expected - he was taller than her, after all. She shook her head and smiled as she pulled the blankets up over her. If someone had told her just a week ago that she would be in the Goblin King's bed and wearing the Goblin King's shirt, she would have never guessed out of all the possible scenarios that this is what would have led up to it. She probably would have also thrown a coffee cup at the head of the person who told her. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but in the deepest, darkest corners of her mind, Sarah had always thought that the Goblin King was a fairly… Handsome man. That is, when he wasn't drugging her, or stealing her little brother, or basically trying to kill her. But still, there was just something about him…  
She re-read through parts of "Labyrinth Magic" and understood a little more this time. It seemed to line up with what the old goblin lady had told her. It too stated that the labyrinth gave magic powers to whoever ruled over it. Sarah put the book down and closed her eyes, trying to picture what powers she would have. She assumed they would similar to Jareth's powers. Would she be able to conjure crystals? Would she transform into an owl? Would she be able to… Teleport? Sarah's eyes flew open. She had forgotten he could teleport. What if he just appeared suddenly in this room? She would have a horribly awkward time explaining what she was doing here. But, Hoggle had said he hadn't been here in a year. What were the chances he would just show up now? A very small chance, she told herself. She turned over to her side and pulled the blankets up to her chin. Telling herself not to worry about it, she closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her dreams felt all mixed up that night. Scenes constantly changed and each one melted into the others. Images of her life Aboveground swirled with people and places from the Underground. Hoggle was one of her college professors, but he didn't seem to know anything about the subject he was teaching. Her boss at the restaurant was a Firey who insisted on taking the customers' heads off. Toby was in her apartment asking her if she wanted a cup of tea, but when he spoke it was the worm's voice, not his own. Suddenly she was in the middle of her high school gym room, doing the waltz with Jareth. They were dressed exactly as in her peach dream. "Sarah," Jareth cocked his head to one side. "Are you sleeping in my bed?" Sarah couldn't seem to focus her eyes. "Huh?" she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thirty seconds after Sarah woke up were very disorienting. It took her some time to remember where she was. She threw back the soft gray sheets and got out of bed. As she stretched out her arms and back, she noticed some clothes folded on top the dresser that hadn't been there the night before. She frowned as she unfolded them. If she didn't know any better, she would have said they had been tailor made for her. She looked around suspiciously before she put them on. A cream colored button-up blouse with frills on the front and elbow length sleeves, and a pair of soft tan fitted leggings. On the floor she found a pair of knee-high brown leather boots. They, too, fit perfectly. It wasn't that Sarah didn't like them, it was that she wondered who had found her clothes that fit so well? It made her a little uneasy. When she went downstairs she found a dozen or so goblins, all hard at work cleaning. When they saw her they shied away from her, as if they didn't want to get in her way. In the kitchen she found Brax and the old lady cooking some food. Now that the kitchen was clean, she could see that there was a table and chairs. She sat down in one of the chairs. "Now that everything is clean, it looks so much better!" she told them.   
"Thank you, queen!" Brax said as he placed a plate of food in front of her.   
The omelette on the plate looked delicious. After the first bite, Sarah told Brax how good it was.  
Brax stopped what he was doing and slowly turned around. "Really, queen?"  
"Yes, of course! It's wonderful."  
Brax wrung his hands. "Oh! Thank you queen!" he cried. "KIng never like Brax's cooking." his eyes went wide. "Sometimes, king throw food back at Brax."

Sarah was appalled. "I'm very sorry he did that, Brax. It wasn't right of him."  
Brax wiped away a tear. "It's ok queen." He went back to cleaning.  
"Hoggle is still in town, gathering others who can help us." the old lady told her. "He should be back fairly soon."  
"Ok. By the way, do you know who left these clothes out for me? I'm surprised how well they fit me."  
The old lady just turned and smiled at her. "I told you the labyrinth would let you know!" she beamed. Sarah groaned inwardly. The labyrinth had brought her clothes because she was the queen now? Great.

After breakfast was over and Hoggle still wasn't back, Sarah went to the throne room. It was her throne now, after all. She sat down on it. "Ow!" she squirmed around. It wasn't very comfortable. She tried sitting up straight. She tired slouching. Everything seemed to hurt her back somehow. Finally, the only position she could find that was bearable was leaning back on one arm of the throne with her legs resting on the other arm. "That's more like it." she said to no one in particular. "A girl could get used to this." She put her hands behind her head. After a while, she noticed some goblins at the doorway poking their heads inside. "You can come in!" she called out to them. They slowly and nervously inched their way towards Sarah. "Um, um, we was supposed to tell you that, um, Hoggle is out in front of the castle…"   
Sarah sat up quickly. The goblins fliched and cried out. "What's wrong?" she asked.  
The goblins cowered and didn't say anything. "Oh, you guys! You didn't think…You didn't think I was going to hit you, did you?"  
"You mean, you're not?" the goblins looked at her in disbelief.   
"No, of course not!"  
The goblins looked at each other and ran out of the room yelling their thanks.  
Sarah put her face in her hands. What kind of legacy had Jareth left behind? All she had to do was not hit anybody, and she'd look like a saint!

She met Hoggle out on the lawn. He had gathered several dozen goblins, all of whom looked quite eager. "I explained what's been going on to 'em, Sarah." he told her.  
"Hello everyone! Thank you all for coming. This really means a lot to me." she looked out at all the goblin faces. "The first thing I would like you to do is scour the labyrinth itself. Every inch of it. Look for clues of any kind! Also, I want some of you to go back to Goblin City and ask everyone you can find about Jareth. When was the last time they saw him? Do they have any idea where he went? Please write down what they tell you. When all this is finished, you can come back here and we'll decide what to do next."  
"You heard the queen! Let's go!" cried Hoggle.

Sarah decided to go to Goblin City and ask around as well. She was quite surprised at the amount of chickens roaming free, but she truly enjoyed seeing everything. The sizes of the houses varied greatly, and the little goblin stores sold the most curious objects. But as much as the city itself filled her with joy, the fact that no one had any idea about Jareth made her a little scared. Some of the goblins hadn't even realized he was missing. When she got back to the castle, it was dark outside, and she was weary from the long day. No real information had been found in the city, except that a few goblins had seen an owl flying overhead last year. All of the goblins searching the labyrinth weren't back yet, and probably wouldn't be back until the next day. Exhausted, Sarah decided to sit in the library for a while before going to bed. She sat in the chair and pulled the boots off her aching feet. as she sat, she looked up. What kind of books were those, the ones at the top near the ceiling? She grabbed the rolling ladder and pulled it over to where she wanted to look. The ladder creaked under her feet, and for a second she wondered it was still strong enough to support her. But she climbed up anyway. Books were just too tempting for her. When she reached the top, she found some of the titles were in the other language she didn't know. She didn't let that stop her, though, and put a few under her arms. She awkwardly climbed down, praying that she didn't fall or drop anything. She took the books and sat back in the chair. 

The first one seemed to be a collection of fairy tales. Sarah smiled as she flipped through it. Here she had thought she knew all the fairy tales… All these were new to her. The next appeared to be a history book. It was half in english, half in the other language, without any pictures, but full of dates and years. The third book was in the other language as well, but it looked like a book of poetry. Sarah wished she could read what the words said. Each paragraph was spaced just so, all hand written. The more she looked through it, the more Sarah realized that the handwriting was the same as what was on the parchments on Jareth's desk. Had he written these poems? Suddenly the book fell open to somewhere in the middle. A separate piece of paper was stuck inside. Sarah pulled it out to look at it. Her heart began to beat faster as she looked at it. It was a photograph of Jareth, smiling and looking happier than she had ever seen him. He had his arms wrapped around a girl, who also looked incredibly happy. This wasn't what surprised her, though. 

What made her heart pound in her chest was the fact that this girl in the picture, 

looked exactly like herself.


	5. 5

Sarah forced herself to take a deep breath and look at the picture again. Upon closer inspection, this girl looked just slightly different than Sarah. But she looked so much like her that she almost thought it was herself in the picture. They both had long dark wavy hair. Her eyes were almost the same color. She looked like she could have been Sarah's older sister. But she was taller, that was for sure. She was almost as tall as Jareth. She was hugging him back, her arms around him tightly. Who was this girl? Sarah kept the photograph out. She would get to the bottom of this mystery. Suddenly she felt extremely tired. It was as if the worries and cares of the past several months had caught up with her all at once. She left the photograph on the dresser, fell into bed and went to sleep. She had never been so tired in all her life.

When she awoke the next morning, however, she felt much better. Much stronger, almost. She yawned and rolled out of bed. She glanced in the mirror on top the dresser as she walked past it. She froze, then backed up and looked in the mirror again. "What?!" she nearly screamed. She put her face inches away from the mirror. "Wha - what the -?!" She rubbed her eyes and looked into the mirror. "But, how di-" She was at a loss for words, so she did the only thing she felt she could. She screamed. Yes, there was no denying it. Her left eye, which was normally a bright green like her right eye, was now more of shade of dark brown. She screamed once more, just for good measure. She quickly go dressed and ran downstairs, hoping someone would be there to explain.  
Some of the goblins were already outside, and Sarah saw the old lady just coming up the walkway. As soon as she got closer to Sarah, she said something right away. "Oh, my goodness! Have you tried out your powers yet?"  
"Huh?" That took Sarah by surprise.  
"When the labyrinth's ruler's eye changes, that means they're starting to get their powers!"  
"Oh no! You mean it's going to stay like this?" Sarah was dismayed.   
"Yes." the old lady continued on her way inside the castle. "You remember the old king's eyes, don't you?"  
Sarah sighed and covered her new eye with her hand. Of course she remembered. At least she could still see the same out of it.

The goblins who had returned hadn't found anything at all. Sarah wasn't sure how to feel about this. On one hand, it seemed like this meant they were one step closer to finding him. On the other hand, there was still the chance they would never find him. "It's time to look outside the labyrinth. We'll ask anyone we see out there if they know anything. We won't stop until we find him!" she told the goblins. They nodded in agreement. Hoggle stood by her side. "How much of this land is under Jareth's rule?" she asked him. Hoggle sighed. "Well, you got the Firey's forest, the swamps, the empty fields…. the bogs…" he trailed off.   
"We'll search everywhere." she told him.  
Hoggle scratched his head nervously. "Uh, Sarah? Is it ok if I don't search the bogs?"  
She smiled. "That's ok, Hoggle."  
"By the way, we found the royal carriage in the labyrinth. I had some goblins fix it up for you. I also sent some of 'em out to get some deer to pull it for you." he seemed proud of what he had accomplished.  
"That's wonderful! It will make traveling a lot faster." Sarah pictured in her head what the carriage might look like. She inmagined how cute it would be, pulled by deer. She hadn't known there were deer in the Underground. 

The old lady came out of the castle. She was carrying with her a large map. With Sarah's help, she pinned it up next to the outside of the door. It showed all of Jareth's land, plus a little outside of it as well. Places that had already been searched were crossed off, and Sarah pointed out the places she wanted someone to search next. From what she could tell, it looked like most of his land was uninhabited. She sent out several search parties and planned for herself to go to the Firey's forest when the carriage was ready. She noticed Brax standing around in the crowd. "Hey, Brax!" she motioned for him to come closer. "You spent a lot of time in the castle when Jareth was here, right?"   
Brax nodded.  
"Well, that means you know how stuff is supposed to be done around here, yeah?"  
"Yes Queen!"  
"Good, you're coming with me today!"  
Brax danced in a little circle and clapped his hands.   
She leaned down closer to him and whispered. "I don't know much about being the queen, Brax. If I start to do something that makes me look dumb, will you tell me?"  
Brax's eyes widened and he looked somber. "Brax will help Queen!" he said eagerly.  
"Sarah!" Hoggle called out. "The deer are here!"

Sarah turned, expecting to see deer like she was used to. Instead, she had quite a surprise.  
These animals were twice the size of regular deer. Their fur was a mix between blue and green, and they had shaggy manes. Spindly antlers poked out of their heads, and their faces were flatter than normal deer, almost cat-like. Both of their eyes pointed straight ahead, and their feet were tiny little hooves. Their tails were long and bushy, more like a horse's tail. But the worst part of these animals was by far their necks. They were very long and flexible, and to make it worse, they kept looking around, as if to show off how much they could twist and turn. Their big eyes blinked and they swished their tails.  
Sarah put her hands over her mouth. "Hoggle!" she cried. "Those aren't deer!"  
"What d'ya mean?" he snorted. "I think I know deer when I see them! Tie 'um up to the carriage, boys!" The goblins who had brought them in took them around the corner to where the carriage was waiting. Now that they weren't right in front of her face, she started to get over her initial shock at seeing them. The term 'deer' was obviously used for a completely different animal in the Underground. She gathered up her courage and walked around the corner to look at them again. They didn't look that bad the second time around, she told herself. They stretched their necks out and blinked their big round eyes at her. She cautiously reached a hand out towards them. They snuffled their noses. "Are they safe?" she asked.

"Course they're safe!" said one of the goblins who was tying the deer's harness to the carriage. Sarah petted one of the deer. It's fur was so soft and the animal didn't seem to mind. They aren't so bad after all, she thought. The carriage itself looked quite like some she had seen Aboveground. Four wheels, a comfy-looking seat for her in the back, and a little seat for the driver in the front. No surprises here. At least, none she could see. She walked around it a few times, making sure it didn't look like it was going to fall apart or anything. When she decided it looked fine, she got in the back and sat down. She patted the seat next to her and waved for Brax to sit there.  
"You mean, Brax does't have to walk outside?" he was incredulous.  
The thought flashed through Sarah's mind that maybe trying to get Jareth back as the ruler wasn't the smartest idea. The poor goblins…

The carriage was actually a very fast method of transportation. They would be able to cross a great amount of land with this. The goblin driver and Brax were both silent for much of the trip. That left Sarah alone with her thoughts. Her mind drifted back to the photograph she had found. She wondered what ever happened to that girl. Who was she? Where was she now? Was there someone she could ask about it? The wind blew across her and made her shiver. She thought she heard a faint voice in the distance. "I wish…" Suddenly Sarah's hearing went silent. She looked around. For a brief moment, she had been unable to hear the things around her - the creak of the wheels, the noise of the deers. Brax was looking at her. "You ok, queen?"  
Sarah crossed her arms. "I think so… I just felt a little funny for a second, that's all."  
"I wish the goblins…"  
The voice sounded a little louder now. Brax looked like he heard it too. The driver turned around. "Do you went me to pull over?" Brax nodded yes.  
"I wish the goblins would take you away… Right now!"  
There was no mistaking it, someone had said something.  
A funny feeling came over Sarah. "Brax!" she felt more than a little nervous. She reached out and grabbed his hand. Everything got hazy and Sarah felt… Sparkly. There was no way she could describe it. Before she knew it, she was standing in a room she had never seen before. Brax was standing next to her. He tugged on her sleeve and she leaned down to hear what he had to say.  
"Someone got wished away! This is where you take the kiddie!"  
"What?!"  
As she looked around she saw the room was a children's play room. There was a girl of about 12 or 13 standing with her arms crossed, and on the floor was a smaller girl who looked to be about 4 or 5. "You don't look like the Goblin King…" the older girl said suspiciously as she eyed Sarah up and down.   
"Uh, I'm the Goblin Queen. We're… Under new management. What can I do for you?"  
The girl pointed at her little sister. "She messed up my art project! I want you to take her away!"  
The little sister sat on the floor, tearing up a piece of paper that used to be a drawing. A paintbrush was in her mouth, and saliva was dripping down her face.  
Sarah cringed. "Um, are you sure you don't want her?"  
"No. Take her away."  
Brax tugged on her sleeve again. "Labyrinth!" he said in a loud whisper.  
"Oh yeah! You can run the labyrinth and get her back, or uh, I'll turn her into a goblin?" Sarah wasn't too sure this how it was supposed to go. Something felt… Off.  
"She already is a goblin!" the girl shrieked.   
The little sister took the paintbrush out of her mouth and inserted her hand instead. She then took her hand, now dripping with spit, and waved it around. "Hold my hand!" she called out.  
Sarah saw the older sister's point. "Brax, why don't you take the girl…?"  
Brax did as he was told.  
"You're sure? There's no going back from this!" she warned.   
The girl nodded.  
Sarah turned to Brax, who was holding the hand of the little girl. "Ok, Brax, how do we get back?"  
"Huh?"  
Sarah's face went blank. "I said, how do we get back to the Underground?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! ^_^

Brax fretted and wrung his hands. "Brax never gonna see labyrinth again!" he fell to his knees and sobbed. The older girl stifled a giggle. The little girl, seeing her new friend Brax crying, decided she should be crying too. Sarah put her hands on her head. "How are we supposed to get back?" she shouted. Brax quit crying, but instead shifted to a series of small shrieks one after the other. The girl took a step backwards. "You guys have to leave! My parents are going to be back soon!"  
"Brax! I need you to focus for a minute! How did Jareth get back to the Underground when he took children?" Sarah asked. "We need to know - what did he do?"

"Brax not know!" he wailed. "Brax just steal kids!"  
Sarah could see form the look of terror on his face he really didn't know. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind. You can do this, she told herself. You're the queen of the labyrinth, you'll know what to do. She nodded her head. There had to be a logical way this worked. If a wish had brought them here, maybe… Maybe a wish could take them back?  
She grabbed Brax and the little girl's hands.

"I wish we were in the Underground!" she yelled. Everything was quiet and sparkly for a second, and when Sarah opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of the throne room. Maybe she had needed to be a little more specific with her wish - she wanted to be right where she had left. At least they were back now. Back home… With a kidnapped child.  
"What a disaster!" she moaned as she sunk to the ground.   
The old lady was sweeping when she saw Sarah. "Oh! Did someone wish away a child?"  
"Yeah." she sighed. "But I feel like I messed it up. Is there someone I can talk to about all this magic stuff? Can you tell me how I'm supposed to do these things?" 

The old lady stopped sweeping. "I'm not exactly versed in royal magic, you see, or I would help you." she thought for a moment. "Have you spoken to the Wiseman? He normally helps the rulers with magical issues."  
"I guess I'll have to talk to him, then." 

She realized that without the carriage, it was too late to return to the Firey's forest. Sarah was more than a little disappointed. The rest of the day dragged by. The old lady promised her she would tell the Wiseman that Sarah needed to talk to him. "Expect him to be here tomorrow!" she had said as she left for the night. The old lady had also taken the wished-away child with her. At least the little girl had seemed happy. Sarah felt terrible for her, but she had to admit, the little girl loved the goblins. Maybe she wouldn't mind too much that her sister had wished her away. It made her think of Toby, and she only felt worse.

Sarah was anxious to speak to the Wiseman. Before she went to bed she looked at the photograph again. There was so much she didn't know about Jareth. Maybe he had his reasons for disappearing. Maybe he didn't want to be found. She sighed. It had been another day of no clues. It was as though he had left without a trace. 

The next morning, sure enough, the Wiseman was there to talk with her. Luckily, he had left his talkative hat at home. He didn't seem to remember Sarah from all those years ago, but he told her that he didn't remember a lot of runners, either. "So many of them come through all the time." he shrugged. "But anyway, come, let's walk for a bit!" he led her out to the labyrinth. They walked along and she asked him her questions about how to use her powers. 

"Don't worry about it too much, dear. You'll be able to use them when you need them. Some may take more time than others to show up. But yes, you should be able to conjure crystals at a whim, 'teleport', as you call it, with control, and even transform to an animal. Although, that one may take the longest to acquire."

He showed her several tricks she could practice on her own, and she was quite pleased her new power of making a flower bloom. The Wiseman brushed it off as the least of her powers, but the first she could master. "As little things like this become easier, the more impressive things will become easier for you accomplish as well." he told her. 

He promised her that he would be back every day so she could learn more things, and true to his word he was there every afternoon for the next week. Sarah kept a close eye on the search for Jareth, although she herself didn't go out as much. Word had gotten around to Sir Didymus and Ludo that she was back, and they came to visit her. They too had heard that the king was missing, but had no idea where he could be. Sarah, for the most part, was immensely enjoying herself. LIfe certainly wasn't like this Aboveground. She had feasts every night for her friends, and her days were filled with studying magic and consulting with her goblin army.   
Her fairness and concern for her subjects made her very popular among the goblins. The ideas she had for the running of Goblin City vastly improved their quality of life. Though the City still had it's rustic charm, and chickens were still everywhere, they were able to grow more food and not have to work as hard for it. Every goblin did their fair share, and the number of boggings went down by 80%.

It had been one week since she first began learning form the Wiseman. She was able to conjure crystals now - they didn't last for very long, and half the time nothing could be seen in them, but it was a good start. She was beginning to grow used tot the strange appearance of her new eye. There was still one thing that itched in the back of her mind, though.  
"Wiseman, how long have you lived around the castle?"  
"Quite a long time, my dear." he paused to think about it. "I remember she Jareth first had the labyrinth built." he smiled fondly. "Yes, he and Cassandra were so happy back then."  
Sarah's breath stuck in her throat. "Who?"  
"Who what?"  
"Who's Cassandra?"  
"What's a Cassandra?"  
"You just sai-" The Wiseman had a bad habit of forgetting things he had just said. Sarah had gotten used to this over the course of their magic lessons, but it was still frustrating at times.  
"Never mind." she rubbed her forehead. It felt like a headache was coming on.  
"I'm not feeling too well, today. Maybe we can cut the lesson short?"  
The Wiseman looked at her sympathetically. "Of course, dear. I'll see you tomorrow."  
They parted ways and Sarah went back to the castle.

She didn't feel like eating anything so she let the kitchen goblins go home early. Hoggle was out still, looking for Jareth. With a sigh she walked past the library. She didn't feel like reading, either. She sat on the edge of the bed. There on the nightstand was the photograph. She turned it over so she didn't have to look at it. Cassandra. She scoffed. Well, it was a pretty name, she had to admit. It wasn't a plain, ordinary name. No, she could think of plenty of names names that were plain and ordinary… And there was on that stood out at the top of the list… And it was an ordinary name for an ordinary girl. She puled the blankets over her shoulders and blinked back the tears. For all she knew, Jareth had grown tired of the goblin kingdom and run off with Cassandra. Although she couldn't say why, she missed her old life. She missed her family that hardly spoke to each other, she missed her coworkers and boss who probably hadn't even noticed she was missing.She missed… The days before the labyrinth. Before Jareth. Before she knew that you could love someone you didn't even know anything about. 

There was a soft knock on the door. Sarah was silent. They knocked again. "Who is it?" she called as she wiped away the tears. A tiny little goblin voice replied.  
"It - it's Fluff, your majesty! Um, Fluff is scared to walk home alone, can Fluff stay here tonight?" she asked timidly. Sarah got up and opened the door. Fluff was very small goblin, only a foot tall, and she loved wearing little dresses with ruffles. She normally worked in the castle gardens, tending to the smaller plants and flowers. The goblins she normally left with for the day had left her behind. She looked so sad standing there that Sarah just had to smile. "Would you like to sleep in here by the fire, Fluff?"  
"Are you sure, your majesty? If it it's too much trouble, I can sleep in the kitchen if you want." Fluff looked surprised at Sarah's offer.   
"It's ok, I don't mind." Sarah took one of the blankets off her bed and and rolled it into a pillow / blanket for Fluff.  
"Oh! Thank you your majesty!" Fluff looked so happy.  
Sarah smiled again. Maybe she wasn't so plain after all. Maybe, to the goblins like Fluff, she was pretty darn important. Maybe Jareth didn't need her, but these goblins did.  
And that was good enough for Sarah.

When she awoke in the morning Fluff thanked her again and again. Sarah wasn't feeling as bad about everything as she had the last night. Even if she never found Jareth, she could be happy here because her subjects loved her. Even if that meant being alone.  
She lingered in her room a little while before going downstairs. She noticed the little wooden box on the dresser once again. Knowing full well that last she tried to open it it had been locked, she picked it up and tried to open it. To her surprise, this time it did open. Inside was a necklace of sorts. It was an angular crescent shape, made of gold an silver. She put it around her neck and looked in the mirror. She liked how it looked. Wondering if it had any kind of magic to it, she resolved to ask the Wiseman today. When she got downstairs, however, she found that the Wiseman had cancelled today's lesson and would not be there. She was a little disappointed, but decided to stay in the library and read until the goblin army came back with their reports.   
Sarah didn't notice it at first, but something seemed different as she was reading. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something seemed strange. It was almost as if something about the books had changed since she last read them. Then it dawned on her. She could read the other language. Her magic must have let her mind understand it somehow. She was overwhelmed with joy. Her very first thought was of how much she could now learn with this power. Her second thought, however, was that now she could read Jareth's personal papers. She giggled to herself.  
The only question was, where to start first?


	7. Chapter 7

The first place Sarah went was one of the offices. She chuckled to herself as she locked the door behind her. What secrets would she find in his papers? She couldn't wait to find out. She sat down in the chair and got to work. It took a few seconds for the words to become something she could recognize. She blinked her eyes and squinted. 

"To Oberon, King of the realm, Ruler of the Fae, Greetings."

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"It has come to my attention that one of the roads leading to my kingdom has fallen into disrepair. No doubt your majesty would not want any of your citizens to become injured should misfortune befall them due to traveling on a path that did not have the proper upkeep. If your majesty wishes, I shall secure the laborers to remedy this problem, however, funds will be needed in posthaste. The work can begin as soon your majesty sees fit to send the money - "

Sarah put the letter down. That wasn't exactly what she was looking for. She picked up another.

"Dearest Puck, It was a pleasure to receive your letter regarding your current adventures. Surely the next time you are in this realm, I shall have to take you up on your offer of lunch. By any chance have you heard from Loki? The last I heard from him was four years ago, and I worry for him sometimes, as he never had the best judgement about certain things…"

Sarah didn't know what to make of that one. She set it aside.

"To Mother,"

Sarah smirked. This should be good, she thought.

"I apologize for once again not making it to your birthday party. Perhaps one year I will be able to attend. As always, ruling over the goblins keeps me busy. Things here are much the same as they have always been. Last week a dozen of them somehow managed to create a glue-like substance in the kitchen and it took me an hour of magic to clean everything. I hope you are doing well, and when I find the time I shall come to visit. Your son, Jareth"

Sarah hadn't really thought about it before. What were Jareth's parents like? She wondered if they knew what happened to him. She looked around, but couldn't seem to find anything like an address book. She read through a dozen more letters, all of them seeming to be about mundane things. She sighed. If just reading the letters was boring, how boring must it have been to live it? She sincerely hoped her rule would have more interesting things than asking for money to rebuild a road. She decided to look in another room.  
The next office room had papers that seemed to be lists of expenses. Until she looked at these, Sarah didn't realize just how many things the goblins could break - expensive things, too. Convinced that that was all this room consisted of, she left. As she walked down the hall, she remembered the handwritten book in the library. She went to look for it. It took her a while, but she found it. She took it with her and sat in the chair. Opening it up to the first page, she started reading. 

It was beautiful. Each poem seemed to stand by itself, but they followed a common theme, and it flowed from one to the next. It spoke of friendship, and of love, and how they change like the seasons and bloom like the flowers, vibrant and full, only to wilt and die away, yet coming back stronger the next time. Some of the images the words evoked brought tears to her eyes. Every so often in-between the poems there would be a single line of text, sometimes mentioning an activity, such as "picnic on the mountaintop by the lake" or "visiting the forest, sunlight filters throughout the leaves", but sometimes the single sentences were vague, and seemed to allude to something she didn't understand. She kept reading, page after page. A knock cam at the door, startling her. 

"Who's there?"  
"Lunch is ready, Queen!" called a goblin.   
Lunch already? Sarah had been reading longer than she thought.  
She put the book in her bedroom and went downstairs. After lunch she stayed in throne room for a while, practicing conjuring crystals. She wasn't sure if it was just from practicing, or from the pendant, but it seemed to be getting easier. She half listened to the goblins chattering, and let her thoughts float back to the book. He must have written it for Cassandra, she thought. It would make sense - her picture had been in the front cover, and the poems were obviously written to or about someone. But where was she now? Would she find the answer somewhere in the book? He was in love Cassandra, that much was clear. Sarah felt an unwanted twinge of jealousy. If he loved Cassandra, and he did, what did he want with Sarah back then? She thought of it and her cheeks got hot. He probably hadn't meant anything he said to Sarah. She let the crystal she had just conjured crash to the ground and shatter into nothing. So much for being her slave…

For all she knew, he could be off with Cassandra right now, ditching his duties as king, and sitting on a beach drinking some sort of rum drink. The more she thought about it, a mojito didn't sound too bad right now…

Sarah went to bed early that night. The fire was crackling as always, and as she lay in her bed he decided to keep reading the book of poetry. As they went on, they spoke more of love than anything else. Sarah read them throughout the night, and they seemed to go on forever. Then suddenly, they stopped. She flipped through several blank pages. In between two of the blank pages was a pressed rose. A few pages past that the poems started again. But these poems were different. The other ones had been so full of hope, and these were dark and emotional. The earlier poems radiated affection. The only thing these poems did was leak bitterness. Reading them felt like a punch to the psyche. She suddenly felt more sad than she ever remembered feeling. It was as though in light of these new poems, everything that was written before naive lie. Sarah put the book down without finishing it. She turned over and pulled the blankets around her a little tighter. She felt like she would never be happy again. She took a deep breath and told herself it would be okay. Those were just words, just stories, they didn't have any power over her. She closed her eyes and hoped she would feel better in the morning. 

When she woke up, things seemed a little better. She looked over at the book and pushed it away. She decided she would not be reading anymore of it today. She ran her hands through her hair and stood up. Wiseman was coming today, and she had a lot of questions for him.

"Very good, Sarah! I'm quite pleased with your progress with the crystals!"   
Sarah managed a small smile.  
"Is there something troubling you, dear?" he asked.  
"Wiseman, is it possible… I mean, if someone who had magic wrote something on a piece of paper, would those words have power?"  
The Wiseman thought about it for a moment. "All words have power, Sarah. Power to affect the people and things around them." he nodded. "Did something happen?" he was concerned for his friend.

"No, not really. I just found these poems, that's all. They were really intense, and they kind of stuck with me, I guess." she shrugged. She didn't really feel like telling him she had been reading through Jareth's personal writings.  
"Look what I found!" eager to change the subject, she showed him the pendant.  
He nodded happily. "This will help you very much with your magic! You may find some things you can only do when wearing the pendant. There will probably be one thing you can only do with it's help. It's different for everyone - some can read minds only with it on, some can teleport only when wearing it. Why, there's even some who need it to be able to transform! Wear it always - it's important."

The conversation moved on again. They went over some of the skills she already knew, and worked on a few new ones. She was disappointed she still didn't know how to transform, but he assured her it would happen eventually. Towards the end of the lesson Sarah decided it was time to ask what he knew about Jareth.   
"There's sill no news of Jareth." she mentioned to him.  
"That is unfortunate." he frowned.  
"You've known him along time haven't you?"  
"Yes, quite a while."  
She struggled with choosing the right words. "Was he ever married?"  
The Wiseman was silent for a minute.   
"No, he never was…" he trailed off.  
An uncomfortable silence settled on them.  
"Who was Cassandra?"  
He gave her a wary look. "How much do you know about her?"  
Sarah looked down. "A little… He loved her, didn't he?" she said softly.  
The Wiseman sighed. "He did indeed. It's a long tale, but one that has rarely been told. Very few if any of the goblins still remember - it was quite a long time ago. After it all ended, Jareth refused to allow anyone to mention her name. There was one time when a goblin mentioned her name in passing around Jareth. You should have seen him." he shook his head. "It was terrible. No one's exactly sure what became of that goblin, but no one ever saw him again. If Jareth ever found out I told you about it all…"  
"I won't tell him." Sarah said quickly.  
"Are you sure you want to hear the story?"  
She nodded eagerly.  
"Very well." he sighed. "Lady Cassandra was a Fae woman. She and Jareth knew each other for a very long time. When Jareth was younger he would go on adventures with his friends. Well, one day one of his friends introduced her to him. She loved mazes and puzzles and playing tricks on people.They got along very well right from the beginning. She began to go along with him and his friends on those adventures, and somewhere along the line, they fell in love." Wiseman smiled as he reminisced. "It was wonderful to see them together. They loved each other so much. He would have done anything for her. They were engaged to be married and even set a date for the wedding. He built the Labyrinth just for her. Everyone who knew them thought they would be together forever." he sighed and frowned. 

"But, sadly, it wasn't meant to be."


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a full week since Sarah had heard Jareth's story from the Wiseman. Things had been busy. She had finished reading the book of poetry. She had also found, hidden somewhere in his room, a book that seemed to be his diary. She had read the whole thing, even though at first she wasn't sure if it was right thing to do. Some parts, she read twice. When she had finished it, she decided that it was the best decision she could have ever made. She smiled as she thought of it, even now. She had renewed her search for him with a fresh vigor, almost desperate now to find him. She had also employed the help of quite a few goblins to spruce up the castle - when she did find Jareth (and she was determined she would) she wanted the castle to look wonderful for him.  
The noise of the renovations rang out though the castle. Sarah wandered from here to there, overseeing the work and helping were she could. The sun was shining brightly today, and the weather was warm. The Wiseman had told that the weather was, to a degree, a refection of the ruler. When the labyrinth had someone who looked out for it, the weather was fair and sunny. But when it would fall into neglect, like it was when Sarah first arrived, frost and snow would cover the ground. As she walked past the window she glanced outside. It was a beautiful day. "Who wants to eat lunch outside today?" she called to the goblins. Cheers went up from the workers. She ushered them outside and went to the kitchen to help take the food outside. The Wiseman came by early that day, and Sarah asked him to stay for lunch. As she sat in the sunshine surrounded by several dozen goblins, she couldn't help but smile. It brought her such joy to be here with them. It was in the middle of this happy scene that she heard it. 

"I wish-!"

Sarah looked up. She noticed the Wiseman was looking over at her.  
"I wish the goblins would take you away, right now!"  
Sarah stood up. That was her cue, right?  
"Will you be needing some help?" he asked.  
Sarah nodded. After what happened last time, she would be grateful for a little help.

She closed her eyes and focused. When she opened them she was in a small dark room. She looked to her side and saw the Wiseman was already holding the hand the small child who had been wished away. A teenager stood in front of Sarah and scowled. Sarah tilted her head. "If you don't want this child, I'll take it with me and turn it into a goblin!"   
"I didn't mean it!" the teen said through gritted teeth.  
Had it been up to Sarah, she would have given the child back to girl right then and there. But she glanced at the Wiseman, who had mouthed a silent word to Sarah. Labyrinth.  
Sarah cleared her throat, "If you want the child back, you'll have to run the labyrinth. If you reach my castle within 13 hours, you may have the child back. If not…" she let her sentence trail off. Deep down, Sarah thought she would still probably give the child back if even if the runner didn't reach the castle in time. She would have to talk the Wiseman about it.   
The teen nodded.

The Wiseman snapped his fingers and the trio was suddenly on the little hill overlooking the labyrinth. Sarah pointed across to the castle. "Thirteen hours." she reminded the girl. The girl didn't say anything but glared at Sarah instead. Sarah remembered how she had felt when it was her standing there, and felt a little bad. She reached out her arm and patted the girl on the shoulder. "You can do it." she told her, trying to be encouraging. The look on the teen's face, though, told Sarah she had failed. The Wise man snapped his fingers again, and now he Sarah were back in the castle with the child.

Sarah felt a mixture of nerves and excitement. This was her first runner, and while she didn't want to mess it up, she couldn't wait to see what it would be like from the other side. Curious goblins ran up to Sarah to see the child. She handed thc hold to them and turned to the Wiseman.   
"Why don't you conjure a crystal to watch her?" he told her.  
Sarah nodded as she sat back in the throne. She held her hand palm up in front of her and twisted her wrist. A crystal appeared and floated just above her hand. Inside of the crystal was the image of the girl at the door to the labyrinth. Sarah and the Wiseman peered closer at it. A few goblins came over to look as well.

The girl looked behind her a few times as she approached the gates. She paused for a moment then entered with a scowl on her face. Once she was inside the gates slammed shut. She stared walking to the right for a few minutes, at a steady, determined pace. Then suddenly she stopped. She put her hand out and touched the side wall. She took a few more paces forward with her hand still on the wall. In this way she found the hidden opening and went through it. Sarah felt a hot blush creep up her cheeks. This girl had figured it out so fast - and Sarah had to have to worm tell her… Was it that obvious? She shook her head and focused once again on the crystal. The girl was now in the garden type area of the labyrinth. The crystal gave a view from slightly overhead, so everyone in the throne room could see that the girl was now walking in circles. On the fifth time in a loop, the girl paused, looked at her hands, and pointed in certain directions. She turned herself around, now confident that she was going the right way, and proceeded to walk in yet another loop. The goblins burst out laughing, and Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from smirking.   
"I think she's too turned around." Wiseman chuckled. "Do you want to let her keep going like this, or send her a little help?"  
Sarah looked up form the crystal. "Who wants to go?" she asked.

Several goblins raised their hands, and Sarah nodded to the smallest of them. "Let her catch a glimpse of you, and then lead her out for a while." She pointed to the goblin who then disappeared and reappeared inside the crystal. He looked up for second and waved. All the goblins in the throne room waved right back, even though he couldn't see them. He ran around the corner and he girl gasped as she caught sight of him. As he ran off the girl began to chase him. He led her out of the loop and through some more of the garden. After about ten minutes the goblin left the girl on her own. Sarah summoned the goblin back back with a motion of her hand. The girl was making great progress through the labyrinth. She had now gotten half way through in several hours. The goblins in the throne room were now wandering around, slightly less interested because Sarah wasn't playing any tricks on her. They milled about, each one thinking how close it was to lunch time, but no one daring to bring it up.   
Sarah glanced up from the crystal and looked around at the sad goblin faces. "Are you guys hungry?" she asked. The goblins lit up and nodded.

She smiled. "I'll go get you something." She dropped her hand and the crystal faded into nothing.   
The goblins all looked at each other, none of them believing how lucky there were to be getting food instead of getting bogged.   
Sarah went to the kitchen and pulled out some things for sandwiches. Her magic helped her put them together quickly. After taking a quick glance around and making sure no one was watching, she lifted her hand conjured another crystal. She closed her eyes and focus on a thought. When she opened her eyes, the inside of the crystal juts looked fuzzy, like static. She sighed and let the crystal drop. She should be able to see anything in this dimension - and the fact that she couldn't get even the tiniest glimpse of Jareth in the crystal was very disheartening. It meant he wasn't even in the Underground anymore. How many other dimensions were there? How would she find which one he was in, and how could as he get there when she did?  
She levitated the tray now filled with sandwiches and walked back to the throne room with it. She placed it in the middle of the room and went back to her throne. Ham sandwich in one hand and crystal in the other, she looked to where the girl was now. She had made a fair amount of progress. Sarah almost choked on her sandwich, though, when she saw what the girl was doing. The tricky walls of the labyrinth had angered the girl - she was sick of getting lost and turned around. So she had begun to climb them. Wall after wall, the girl was climbing up, then climbing or jumping down, only to scale the next. All in a straight line - skipping over the maze and aging ground quickly. 

The goblins gasped when they saw this. "That's cheating!" some of the squealed.  
Sarah looked in wonder at the girl who was quickly defeating the labyrinth. In the back of her mind she was comparing the time it her took herself to finish the labyrinth to this girl. A devious plot popped into her head and she smirked.   
"What do you say, guys? This shouldn't be allowed, should it?" she asked the goblins.  
They all shook their heads no and shouted various things.  
Sarah looked back at the crystal and squinted her eyes. The girl was half way up another wall when suddenly the ragged pieces of rock she had been using as footholds disappeared. She fell back to the ground with a yelp and a thud that could be heard even through the crystal. The goblins laughed uproariously and Sarah couldn't contain a small chuckle. The girl got to her feet, uninjured, and began to shout something at the walls. Sarah bit her lip and willed the crystal to not transmit the sounds of what she was saying. Kids these days. She certainly didn't want the goblins to pick up that kind of language. After a little while the goblins calmed down and went back to eating their food. Sarah felt the smallest tinge of regret for playing a trick on the girl, and decided to go make her an offer.

~~~~~~

The girl stared down the path she had just come from. Why did it have to look just like the path she headed towards? She sighed and turned. Upon turing she found herself face to face with Sarah. She stifled a small gasp of surprise.   
"You've certainly made short work of my labyrinth." Sarah tried a friendly smile.  
The girl just narrowed her eyes at her.   
"I want to make you an offer." Sarah looked off at the horizon. "My thoughts are elsewhere at the moment, and it's quite clear you'll finish the maze.So, this is my offer - I'll give you your sister back, but - you have to be a good sister from now on." Sarah looked back at the girl.

She scoffed. "How are you going to know what I do?"  
Sarah shrugged. "Maybe I'll send goblins to watch you. But this is your only sister - that's a gift, and you shouldn't treat her so badly. Wishing her away was a terrible thing to do - what if you hadn't been able to get her back? You would have gone your whole life with the guilt of what you did to her." her mind wandered back to Toby and for a brief moment she was almost overcome with homesickness. Shaking her head slightly, she looked back at the girl. "So if you're not a good sister to her - you'll end up here - " Sarah reached and grabbed the girl's hand before she could say anything. Within an instant they were teleported to Bog of Eternal Stench. It was just as terrible as Sarah remembered it - she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the girl was leaning over trying not to gag. Sarah smiled again. "Not so fun now, is it?"  
She mercifully teleported them back to the throne room. The girl saw her sister sitting the corner with a few goblins. She ran over to her and picked her up. She marched up to Sarah with a determined look on her face. "I promise to be good - now take us back."  
Sarah wasn't sure if she really wanted to be good for the sake of begin good to her little sister, or just to avoid the Bog, but she waved a hand over both of them and sent them back to their home. The goblins waved to them as they disappeared.   
Sarah sunk back into the throne. She had brought up memories of Toby and her life Abovoeground, things she hadn't thought of in a long time. Was Toby missing her, searching for her? Did her father and step-mother contact the police about a missing person? Was her boss furious with her? She rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on.

After a while she and sent the goblins home. Now she was waling throughout the labyrinth, trying to sort out her thoughts. She absentmindedly conjured a crystal thinking of Jareth. Static, just like every other time before this. Knowing that he was no longer in the Underground, she had sent out several dozen fairly intelligent goblins to neighboring kingdoms to see if anyone knew anything about where he could have gone. They hadn't come back yet, and they wouldn't be back for a few more days. Her days now were mostly filled with work - there was lot to do in the kingdom. She knew in the back of her mind that she could go Aboveground anytime she wanted, but with so much to do be done around here, she found she just didn't have the time. By the time she was done with her obligations for the day, she was too exhausted to do anything except fall into bed. Besides, if she left for too long, the labyrinth would literally fall apart. She pushed these thoughts away and looked up at the wall next to her. She grinned as thought back to the events of the day. Why had she never thought of climbing the walls? She paused now and went up to it. Running her hand across it she found a foothold and decided to try it. She hadn't done anything like this since she was a child. It would be fun, and a way to distract herself from other matters.

Going up the wall was a little harder than she would have thought. When she reached the top she took moment to catch her breath. Looking over the other side of the wall she was surprised to see it was more than twice the hight of the first side. Almost two stories high, it went into a little valley of sorts. With a deep breath she swung her legs over and started the descent to the other side. But the rock she had put her food on suddenly crumbled under her weight. It was unexpected, and it made her lose her grip. 

The next she she knew she was falling.

She felt terror rise up inside and an overwhelming urge to escape what had just happened. Time seemed to freeze for the briefest of moments, and she felt a cold chill all over her body followed by a tingling sensation. She closed her eyes as she fell to what she was sure was her death. 

She landed on the ground. Something felt… Different. She opened her eyes. She twitched her nose and looked down at her - paws? Surely this was… New? She flicked her tail in annoyance. Eyes glancing behind, she could she that her thoughts had been confirmed. 

Sarah Williams was currently in the form of a cat.

After the first wave of confusion left, she realized with excitement that she had accidentally learned how to shape shift. She felt so proud as she sat on her hind legs and stretched her front paws out in front of her, admiring her soft black fur. She ran back to the castle on four legs with a look of glee on her face. She reached the doorway and willed herself to transform back. Now a human again, she looked in the mirror of her room. It's lucky I had my pendant with me, she thought to herself. Wiseman had told her some people couldn't transform without it. She shuddered to think what would have happened if she hadn't changed, and to a cat of all things… She changed into her pajamas and let her thoughts wander as she lay down in bed.

 

Her dreams were muddled that night. She was a cat again, walking along the very thin edges of walls. Then she was Sarah, back at her old job. She was scrubbing dishes in the sink, and when she looked in the water, her reflection was a black cat. Scenes melted into one another. Then it was blank for a while. Now she was back climbing the wall again. The foothold crumbled, just as it had in waking life, and she plummeted down. She told herself to transform, to change, but nothing happened. With each second she could feel herself getting closer and closer to the ground, bracing herself for the "splat". Why wasn't she changing?! Ina panic, her hands went to her neck to feel for the pendant. It was gone. She couldn't change because her pendant was gone. She was trapped.  
Just before she hit the ground she jerked awake. Her hand went to her neck again. Her pendant was there. She was safe. She calm herself down and tried to go back to sleep.

The next morning she lay in bed for a little after waking, thinking over the events of the previous day. She couldn't wait to tell everyone her new skill. She closed her eyes and drifted in-between sleep and awake. Her mind recalled her dream last night. How scary it was, to be trapped like that. No way of transforming to save herself… Her mind moved to other things, to Jareth's diary, to words from the Wiseman, to that delicious ham sandwich she had made the other day...  
Sarah suddenly sat upright in bed. Something had clicked. She threw off the sheets and ran to get dressed. 

She knew where Jareth was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this story in the summer. Why did I hate paragraphs so much? Even with the ones I add in now, it doesn't seem like enough.
> 
> Now in my writing, every sentence is a paragraph!
> 
> I guess it's still preferable to a wall of text...


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a flash-back chapter. I didn't give a warning of this on the Fan Fiction website, and it confused some people, so here it is: this is a flashback :B

Jareth leaned back in his throne, staring out the window at the setting sun. The sky was turning shades of pink and purple. He heard the chirp of small bird in the distance and smirked. A little red finch flew in through the window and circled the room several times before perching on his outstretched hand.

"How was your day, Cassandra?" he asked.

There was a puff of glitter that disappeared into nothing and Cassandra stood before him. She leaned over and kissed him.

"It was wonderful, darling. You should see what the humans have now!" she sat in his lap and he put his arms around her.

"It's some sort of cart, and if the children give the man some coins, he gives them something called an Ice Cream! One of the children dropped one, and I tasted some of it - it was so cold but it tasted really sweet."

Jareth frowned. "I'll never know what you see in those humans… Did you spend the entire day Aboveground again?"

Cass chuckled as she got up. "Of course I did. It's so wonderful up there, Jareth. I wish you'd go with me one day." she sighed.

"Humans are so dull, Cass." he shook his head. He wanted to change the subject - he knew Cass could talk for hours about the humans. "Are we still going on our picnic tonight?" he asked, eyes lighting up.

"Yes, I'll just be a moment." she said as she left the room, looking back over her shoulder to give him a smile.

As Cassandra went to change her clothes, Jareth went the opposite way to the kitchen to get the picnic basket the goblins had packed earlier. They met at the doorway and they walked out to the gardens. The moon had risen and lit up their pathway. They walked down the path, arm in arm, and Cass leaned her head on Jareth's shoulder.

Now that the sun had gone down, big yellow flowers began to open, casting a heavy perfume in the air. Green moths fluttered about, and the sky was filled with twinkling stars. Cass took a deep breath ands silently wished that things would stay this way forever. They walked in silence to the meadow where they often came. Jareth spread out a blanket on the soft grass and they both sat down.

The food consisted of sparkling lemonade, fruits, and cake. As they ate they talked about various things, what the goblins had done recently, what Cass had found in the human world, and idle gossip from the neighboring kingdoms.

The next morning they sat down at the breakfast table as the serving goblins brought their food from the kitchen. The goblins put their plates in front of them and promptly left.

"Jareth?" Cassandra asked softly.

He looked up from across the table.

"Would you go with me the next time I go Aboveground?" her eyes glittered in the pale morning sunlight.

Jareth wrinkled his nose. "Maybe."

She sighed. "You've said 'maybe' so many times… Just come with me, once?" she poked the food on her plate with her fork. He noticed she wasn't eaten much of it. Cass didn't think he would ever accompany her to Aboveground. It had been decades she had been trying to get him to go. He always found a reason for not going.

"Wouldn't you rather go somewhere around here? There are so many places better than Aboveground." he took a sip of water. She smiled sadly and looked down at her plate. For a brief moment Jareth had a funny feeling, that something wasn't right, that he should go with her today, but it passed after a moment and he thought nothing of it. They continued their breakfast and spoke of other things.

Cassandra stuck around for a while after breakfast was finished. She stood next to Jareth's throne and leaned on the arm rest. Jareth was sitting on the throne, leaning forward and trying to understand what the goblin in front of him was trying to tell him. The goblin seemed to think this matter he brought before the king was of the utmost importance. The problem, however, was that neither Jareth nor Cass could understand what he trying to say. He was waving his arms about and saying things that didm;t quite sound like words. Jareth furrowed his brow and tried to focus. Cass tried to hide a chuckle behind her hand.

Finally, Jareth raised a hand to stop the goblin. "Stop, stop. I'm not understanding you. Start slowly from the beginning."

The goblin started again, but it was not any more understandable. Jareth hid his face in his hands. Cass turned away and laughed softly.

"Alright!" Jareth said abruptly. "Don't worry about it anymore, I'll fix it for you." he was taking a wild guess about what the goblin wanted. Surely it was asking for help on some matter? Hopefully if he promised help to creature, it would go on it's way and sooner or later forget.

The goblin nodded happily and ran out of the room.

Jareth sighed and leaned back in his chair.

Cass giggled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Are you sure you don't want to go with me today?" she asked softly and slipped her hand into his.

Jareth felt something gnawing in the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He squeezed her hand. "Not this time, love. I'll see you when you get back."

"Hhm." she gave him one last smile as she went to the window. After her last glance back she transformed into the small red finch and flew out the window into the horizon. Jareth smiled as he watched her go, feeling a little sad, but he didn't know why.

Jareth had gone to the Goblin City not long after she left. He wanted to buy some flowers for her for when she got back. He felt the smallest amount of nagging guilt for not going with her. There was always next time, he told himself. He was in the market, trying to decide between the light pink poppies and the bright violets. He was beginning to think of getting of both.

He was about to decide when a small group of goblins came running towards him. "King, King!" they cried. They looked out of breath and terrified. "Something - something bad has happened."

It was at that moment Jareth's world fell down around him.

The goblins had said the words, his mind had comprehended what the words meant, but he could not bring himself to believe the meaning behind them. He shook his head. Time seemed to slow down.

"What?" he asked, his own voice sounding far away and foreign.

"There's been an accident. Lady Cassandra didn't make it." the goblins looked at him with fear in their eyes. "We looked all over for you - starting with the castle. Something happened to her in the Aboveground, she came back very wounded. Sh- she didn't make it." the goblin swallowed back tears. When Lady Cass had come crashing through window of the castle in her fae form, badly injured and on the brink of death, she had been asking for Jareth. The goblins around her had done all they could to help her, and a medic goblin came as quickly as he could, but it was too late for her. She was too far gone. She had asked one of the goblins for a scroll and some ink.

"She wrote this for you, King." a small goblin said in a wavering voice. Jareth took the envelope and clenched it in his hand. His eyes darted around the market. A few goblins were looking at him as though they knew something was wrong. He didn't want to read the letter here.

"What happened to her?" he asked, trying to keep in control of his emotions.

The goblins looked down. "We aren't sure…"

He nodded at them. He couldn't seem to find any words, so turned and quickly teleported back to the castle.

He could hear goblins in the background wailing and crying. The medic was speaking to a few others before he noticed Jareth was back.

"Your Majesty!" he called when he saw him. He walked over to the king. "I'm so sorry your majesty, but there was nothing I could do. Not even if I was able to treat her right away." he shook his head sadly. "It seems it was her fate to go at this time."

Jareth, whose eyes were roving the castle, turned to look at the medic upon hearing those words. "What did you say?" he asked sharply.

The medic noticed the glint of malice in Jareth's eyes, and he realized he might not have picked the wisest words. He swallowed. "I, I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Out." Jareth pointed to the door. "Out, all of you."

None of the goblins needed to be told twice.

He went right to his library and locked the door behind him. With shaking hands he opened the letter. It started off in strong handwriting, but progressively got shakier and messier.

'Dearest Jareth,

I want you to always remember that I love you. My only regret in life is that I couldn't stay here with you. I love you so much Jareth, I'm sorry.

I was in the Aboveground watching families in the park - I was thinking of of us, the family we wanted to have - when I saw a Warg. It was stalking a little girl in the park. I went to distract it from her, but it was too quick for me. I managed to defeat it, but not before it bit me. I knew what I risking when I confronted it. I regret having to leave you, but I don't regret saving the girl. Please, Jareth, go to the Aboveground, just once, for me. See the humans. Discover their world. They are worth it - they are worth protecting, and I want you to see that. That is my last request of you. Goodbye, my love

That was it. She was really gone. Jareth put his face in his hands and sobbed.

The was deceptively sunny. Birds flew through the air and chirped, and a gentle breeze blew across the land as though there wasn't a care in the world. Jareth saw these things and felt they mocked him. He stood by the graveside of lover. Just a week ago they had been planning a their wedding. Now he had had to plan her funeral. Ever since that day he had been different, he had changed. All the goblins spoke of it in whispers. He became colder and crueler. Boggings happened with alarming frequency. He lost his patience more and more. He had become sullen and angry. Cass had always been there to calm him and keep him in check. But now she was gone.

On the fourth day after she had died, he suddenly left the castle in his owl form. He went Aboveground, fulfilling her last request. He circled the skies and watched the humans. He saw men going to work in the mornings, sipping their coffees in their polished cars, he saw children walking to school, toting books and all manner of things with them. He saw people in stores, buying and selling string objects. People playing in parks and walking down the sidewalk. And he despised all of them. Every single one. All so selfish, so wrapped up in their own little world. the humans were cruel to each other, and he looked upon them with disdain. For many days he returned to the Aboveground, hoping each time to see what Cass saw in them. The more time he spent there, the more he was confused by them. They seemed so full of contradictions. After time, they all started to blend into one another, and no matter where he went, they all seemed to be the same.

On the thirteenth day of watching, he saw something. He was in a park, perched in a tree. His eyes scanned the grounds, taking in all there was to see. The wind blew towards him and carried a voice to this ears.

"For aught that I could ever hear by tale or history, the course of true love never did run smooth"

Those words… It was a girl's voice, high and clear. He looked until he could see the owner of this voice. For a moment his breath stuck in his throat. This girl looked so like Cassandra when she was younger, it almost startled him. He watched as she read from the blue leather bound book. She sat on the grass with her dog next to her, with no idea that someone was watching her.

This was the first human who stood out to Jareth, the first who seemed… different. He stayed watching her and listening to her read out loud for the rest for the rest of the afternoon. As she left he decided to follow her. She skipped all the way back to her home, neither her nor her dog noticing the owl that flew not too far behind them.

It wasn't until Jarteh got back to the Underground that her realized the whole time he was watching the girl he hadn't been thinking of Cass of at all. He went back as often as he could, watching her as she recited poems and plays in the park, or through her window as she did homework. She fascinated him. She was so like Cass, but at the same time, she was unlike anyone he had ever known before. He wanted to learn more about her. He wanted to know everything he could about this strange girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Girls, if someone follows you around and watches you from the shadows, chances are he is a creeper and should be avoided. :(
> 
> This story just... kind of went that way... *shrugs*


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the end!

It wasn't long before all the goblins knew about about Sarah. Goblin children whispered about the human girl who had captured the heart of the King. Jareth spent a lot of time Aboveground watching her. He learned quite of lot about her - that her birthday was in the middle of spring (which he quickly made an official holiday in the Underground), that her favorite poet was William Butler Yeats, and that she loved the color gold. She had many friends at school, but when she got home, most of her time was spent by herself, or with her dog Merlin. Some days she would spend hours and hours in the park, reciting plays and reading books.   
"She's going to be the Queen one day!" the little goblins sighed. When Jareth wasn't looking, goblins would travel Aboveground to get a glimpse of this Sarah Williams. They would hide just around the corner in rooms in her home, looking at this girl who would one day be their queen. The goblins, however, may not have been the best at hiding, and every so often Sarah would have to tell herself she was just imagining things. Surely there wasn't someone around the corner giggling, right? And if things of hers went missing sometimes, well, she must have just misplaced them…   
What goblin wouldn't something that belonged to future royalty? Even if it was something as silly as a hair clip or a pencil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the morning of Sarah's fifteenth birthday. The fog still hung in the early morning air - the sun had not been up long enough to dispel it yet. No one was up yet to see the lone figure as it walked down the street except for Merlin. He lifted his head from where he was sitting on the Williams' porch. Sensing a familiar presence, he deemed it safe to lay his head back down on his paws. No need to bark at this one - he came and went often and Merlin was quite used to him. It had always irked him, though, that this person had never thought to pat him on the head or scratch his ear. Why was that? Melin blinked his eyes and sighed. He watched as the figure opened the mailbox and placed a small package wrapped in golden paper inside. The person paused a second and looked over at Merlin. Merlin's ears perked up. Maybe now he would get that pat on the head? Nope, no such luck. The person turned again and disappeared into the fog. Merlin whined. It would still be several hours before someone would wake up and pay attention to him. Oh well. A pill bug crawled across the porch and Merlin licked it up and ate it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

That afternoon Sarah's father got he mail out of the mailbox and sorted through it. Most of the day's mail were letters for Sarah from friends and family. There was also a small package that he assumed must be for her too. He didn't even notice it didn't have a return address - all it said on front was "Sarah". Her father handed her the mail. "Looks like someone sent you something." he told her.   
Sarah took the mail form him and looked through it. She put the cards aside and looked at the small package with great interest. She didn't know who it was from, but she did have various aunts and uncles, and she assumed it must have been from one of them. The paper wrapping it was thin and delicate, a bright gold color. She opened it carefully, intending to save the paper. Inside was a book. A beautiful, red leather-bound book that fit in her hands perfectly. She flipped through the pages and took a deep breath. The pages smelled of jasmine and roses and cinnamon. There was no description of the book, no year listed that it was published, and not even an author was listed. On the front were two simple words for a title.

The Labyrinth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The book had quickly become Sarah's favorite, and it was later that year that she had her adventure. It had changed her in so many ways. It was now a little over 13 years since that had happened. 

"Are you sure it will be okay?" Sarah asked.  
The old goblin woman and the Wiseman nodded.  
"Thirty minutes only, though. You have to be back by then." he told her.  
The old woman pressed something small into her hands. "Good luck, dear." she smiled.  
Sarah took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Thirty minutes. She only had thirty minutes. It wasn't a lot of time, but she was going to make the most out of it. Her magic was still developing, and traveling between dimensions would take up a lot of it. She would only be able to open the portal once, and she would have to get through it again before it closed. When she opened her eyes she was in the alleyway behind her apartment. She gasped. It had worked. Quickly she ran up to her door and went inside. Had it always been this small? She frowned. Her time in the castle had spoiled her. Everything was just the way she had left it. She glanced at her phone and noticed the flashing light. Someone had left a message. She pressed the play button. It was from Toby.   
"Hey Sarah, just wanted to see how you were doing."  
That was it. At first she thought there was something wrong with the machine. She tapped it a few times. But no, there was only one message. No one had called her. No one had checked up on her. As far as she could tell, no one had even cared she was gone. She pushed down the bitter hurt feeling and went outside. Surely, she had more friends than just Toby? He hadn't even called a second time to see why didn't respond. As she walked briskly to the park she fought back the tears that started to fill her eyes. Had it always been this way? Had she just never noticed? Those thoughts left her mind, however, when she entered the park. She hadn't been back here since that fateful afternoon. This was where she stood as she recited parts of the play, while unbeknownst to her a certain someone had watched from the shadows. A smile crept to her face as she approached the obelisk. She sat down on the grass and leaned her bad against it. Her smile stayed on her face as she looked out at the trees surrounding her.   
"You can come out now." she said softly. It was starting to get dark, and there was no one else around.  
"You're out there, aren't you?" For a second she thought she heard the slightest rustling form the treetops.   
"The labyrinth fell apart without you… But I put it back together."  
Silence.  
"You could have come to visit me, you know. When I was growing up, I mean. I would have liked that…" she looked down at her hands. "I missed you." The words hung in the air.  
She glanced back up at the branches. "I thought about you… a lot, over the years. I know you thought about me, too." she blushed. "I read your journal. I hope you don't mind." she chuckled. "You certainly have a way with words." her blush deepened.  
"I'm the queen of the labyrinth, now. It's hard being the only ruler. I'm sure you know that, though."  
It was silent for a few minutes. She bit her lip.  
"Jareth, please come out. I only have a short time here before I have to leave. I - I need you…"  
Surely she wasn't wrong about this, was she? He had to be here. She recalled Hoggle's words about Jareth. She smiled wryly. The man was nothing if not proud.  
"You know, all those years ago, you offered me something. I was too young back then to make that choice. But I'm all grown up now. I think," she paused. "I'm ready to make those choices. I think, if you asked me that question again, you might find I have a different answer now."  
The light was quickly fading and Sarah knew she would have to leave soon.   
"If I'm right, you're up there right now. As an owl." she chuckled. "Stuck as an owl all those years. You lost your pendant, didn't you? You had no way of getting back." she pulled out from her pocket the gift the old woman had given her before she left. It was another pendant. She stood up and placed it at the foot of the obelisk. "I'll leave this here for you." she turned around and got ready to leave. "I really want to see you again, Jareth. You won't let me down, will you?" she asked softly.  
She was worried now about the time, so she ran back to the alleyway as fast as she could. Oh, how she hoped she wasn't wrong about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she arrived back in the Underground, the Wiseman and goblin woman were waiting for her. They didn't seem too surprised that she came back alone. "He'll come back on his own terms, dear, when he wants to." the goblin woman patted Sarah's arm. "You've done the best you can."  
Sarah bit her lip and nodded. She hoped that she was right about that.  
Sarah felt jumpy the rest of that day. She expected Jareth to appear at any time, and the longer it took him to show up, the more nervous she felt. She knew that every minute he wasn't there was another minute closer to when he actually was there. That is, if her guess was right. What if it wasn't? She pushed those thoughts down stubbornly. He would show up, she knew he would. The day seemed to drag on until evening. She sat up in the library reading far past midnight. Finally, she could barely keep eyes open and she had to retire to bed. He hadn't come, after all. She felt her stomach twist at that thought. She wasn't sure which idea was worse - that Jareth wasn't out there when she was talking in the park, or the thought that maybe, just maybe he was out there, but he didn't care about her anymore. Maybe he was happier away from the goblins, away from the labyrinth, and away from Sarah… She tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep despite how tired she was. Her mind wouldn't let her find peace. Jareth will never come back no matter how you beg him, her mind told her, he doesn't care what happens to you and you'll be stuck here forever. Sarah scowled and punched her pillow. She flopped back down with a sigh. There was always tomorrow, she tried to tell herself. But deep down she knew that the longer it took him to come back, the less likely he was to show up. At some point during the night she fell into a dreamless sleep. When she slowly awoke the next morning, her consciousness lingered in the realm of sleep for a while. Her mind played back all the happening of the past few days. Thoughts floated through her head with ease and clarity. She recalled the past day, and how she had felt so sure that Jareth would be back by now. But he wasn't. Somehow at this moment the thought didn't seem so terrible as it had the night before. Maybe things would be ok… She made the mistake of blinking, and it brought her to a fully alert state. Now that she was no longer half asleep, the full weight of what had happened came crashing down on her. Jareth was either still missing, or didn't want to come back. Sadness coiled around her whole being. She felt cold, despite the blankets and the ever-burning fire in the room. Really, though, what had she expected? That he would just show up because she wanted him to? That she would just magically know where he was and be able to find him? She frowned softly and felt the prickle of ears behind her eyes. Life so seldom worked out that way.   
Sometimes there is no happy ending.  
Sometimes there is no prince on a white horse, no true love's kiss.  
More often than not, Cinderella doesn't find her prince, and stays a scullery maid for the rest of her days.   
For ordinary people, there is no burst of magic that happened and everything is all right again.   
Ordinary people are not so lucky. 

But Sarah Williams was no ordinary person.

She closed her eyes and rolled over, turning away from the wall. When she opened her eyes again, she almost thought she was still dreaming. For there, just a few mere feet away from the bed she currently occupied, sat Jareth on a chair that certainly wasn't there last night. Her heart began to beat so fast she feared it would explode. Her ears heard a faint rushing noise, which somewhere in the back of her mind she knew to be caused by her blood pressure. Her throat suddenly felt as though there was a hand around it. He was back. Sarah couldn't quite form any sentences yet, and she had the peculiar feeling that her head was going to explode. Jareth just sat there, quiet and calm, his arms crossed as he watched her. How long had he been there, she wondered. Just sitting there, watching her sleep…  
"Enjoying my bed, Sarah?" he finally spoke.  
She sat up and pulled the blanket up past her chest. Her pajamas, while not at all immodest, suddenly didn't seem like enough clothing to be wearing at the moment.   
"I was right." she whispered, mostly to herself. "Are you okay?"  
Jareth shrugged. "I'll be fine, I'm sure. I may have stuck as an owl for a year, but at least I didn't have to deal with goblins."  
He looked tired. "Did you really read my personal writings?" he asked, choosing to look at the wall instead of Sarah.  
She nodded. "Yes, I did…"  
"Those were personal, Sarah." he chided. "You shouldn't have done that."  
For a brief moment Sarah felt nervous, but then she remembered who was. She was the Queen of the Labyrinth now, and he still had no power over her.  
"If you didn't want someone reading them, then you shouldn't have written your feelings down like a girl." she teased lightly.  
He glared briefly at her, but there was no real malice behind it. "Did you mean what you said in the park?"  
She bit her lip. "Yes."  
"Hmm."  
His gaze was unreadable. This was going to be tougher than she thought.

There was no getting around it - Sarah had to get out of the bed at some point, and Jareth didn't look like he was going to budge any time soon. She sighed and threw back the blanket. He watched her as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. His eyes roved over her, taking in her long legs, her pajamas which consisted of a pair of black shorts and a hot pink t-shirt (which Sarah now felt the shorts were a little too sort, and the shirt was a little too tight), and finally stopped at her face. He stared, a small smile forming as he looked at her eyes. Sarah tried to ignore the fact that he was staring at her and walked to the closet to get her clothes for the day. After a moment he got up and followed her. Sarah didn't realize this, and as she turned after picking her clothes, she gasped when she came face to face with him. He reached up and put a hand on the side of her face.   
"The labyrinth has marked you." he said, looking at her two different colored eyes. "You're one of us now." he told her fondly.   
She smiled. "Are you glad?"  
"I am. However, I now seem to be out of a job. The labyrinth has it's Queen now, and the old king is no longer needed." he said softly.  
His hand still cradled her face, and she put her hand on top of it.   
"I don't care if the labyrinth needs you. I need you."   
He leaned in a little closer. "Do you truly?"  
"Truly." she thought for sure he was going to kiss her, but he pulled away. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He turned away form her.   
"And what would keep a former king here for anyway? To gloat that I not only have no power over you, but that you have taken the rest of my power, too? I may as well leave right now." Sarah detected the slightest hint of bitterness in his words. She looked down at her feet.  
"Surely you can think of reason you'd like to stay?" she knew what he wanted - he wanted her to beg him to stay here with her. She kept her head lowered so he wouldn't see the smirk on her face. He always had to be the one in control, didn't he? Well, two could play at that game.  
"I certainly can't think of anything." he glanced back at her.  
"That's too bad. Do you have any plans of where to live now that *I* own the castle?"  
"Sarah!" he admonished. "You would really throw me out of my home? Come now, that's not fair of you."  
She grinned wickedly. "Whoever said I was fair, Goblin King?"  
Jareth frowned. "I thought you said you meant your earlier words." he said stiffly.  
Sarah bit her lip. He didn't want to come right out and ask to stay because he was afraid she would reject him again.   
"Maybe," she cleared her throat. "maybe, seeing as how I'm the *Queen*, maybe there could be someone… Else… You know, to help me around here." she tilted her head and hoped he would understand.  
"What do you mean exactly?" a gleam entered his eyes. He wanted to make this difficult for her.  
"Well, I'm just saying… It wouldn't really be too bad if this Queen also had a King… Who lived in the castle with her, you know?"  
Jareth, who was on the other side of the room, now moved closer to her and grinned. "Sarah, are you asking for my help? Help ruling the kingdom?"  
She gathered all of her courage. "No, I'm asking for a pretty face to come home to at night when I get back from a long day of work as the Queen."  
For a moment she thought he was going to get mad, but instead he threw back his head and laughed.   
"Oh Sarah, you still posses such wit." he pulled her into an embrace. "Do you really want me to stay?" he whispered against her hair.   
"I do. Stay here and rule with me." she pulled back to look at him. "We can both rule the kingdom, as equals. I want that very much." 

He kissed her. It was a small kiss, barely lasting more that a few seconds, but to Sarah it was best moment she'd ever had. She wanted it to last forever. 

"Do you you know why I was in that park, Sarah?" he asked softly, as though he was revealing a great secret. "It wasn't just because it held good memories for me. It was because deep down I hoped that somehow, you would find me. When I realized I'd lost my amulet and couldn't transform, I knew you were the only one who could help me. I even went to your house, but you didn't live there anymore. I had no idea where you had gone, so I went to the park, hoping that one day you would be back."

"Hmm." Sarah didn't know what to say to that. What if she hadn't found him? What if she never left that house that fateful day and found the labyrinth? Would Jareth have spent the rest of his life as an owl? She didn't want to think about those things. She only wanted to think about how nice it felt to be here in his arms. She was just glad that she found him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked down to the kitchen holding hands. Upon seeing Jareth, several small goblins ran off screaming. The old goblin lady and the Wisman were in the kitchen, though, and they smiled happily when they saw the two walk in. They sat down to breakfast and had pleasant conversation, as though it were a normal occurrence that the king should go missing for quite a while, the kingdom acquire a new queen, and then have the king back suddenly one day out of the blue.   
The rest of the goblins took it in stride. The King was back? Better make sure to stay out of his way. No one wanted to get bogged again. 

Sarah, however, made it clear that there would be no boggings. She would remain as the Queen, the one in charge of the goblins and the affairs of the labyrinth. Jareth would be the King, the one in charge of collecting the wished away children. They would both have say over the runners and diplomatic events. 

That very day he returned, they began planning their wedding. The Wiseman and the old lady had helped them plan it, and when it finally came around, it turned out beautifully. Sarah couldn't have asked for a more magical day. Jareth was ecstatic. Being able to call Sarah his wife by far made up for being stuck as owl for so long with only mice to eat. 

Now that Jareth was there to help rule the labyrinth, Sarah was able to return to the Aboveground without any problems. She asked to have just a part-time shift at the restaurant, and she was able to split her time between here and there. She began wearing colored contact lenses Aboveground so no one would question her about her strange eyes. She spent more time with Toby and got involved with her family. Everyone at the restaurant noted a difference with her. No one could quite put their finger on it, but she seemed… Happier. She always seemed to have a smile on her face, even when no one was looking. She ended up getting a smaller apartment as she was there only half the time, and by doing this she was able to save quite a bit of money. She never told anyone about the Underground. No, that was her little secret. She could smile on even the hardest days at work because she knew that no matter how many children threw grape juice at her, or flung pasta everywhere, she could leave at the end of the day. Not just leave and go back to a little apartment - but leave and go back to her Goblin King husband and loyal subjects. And anytime having to deal with threats of trolls on the borders of her lands and meetings with important fae got to be too much, she was able to go to a pace where the worst thing that could happen was a sandwich that was missing a side of mayonnaise.   
~~~~  
She had never been happier, and she truly thought she could never be happier. (She was wrong about that, though it would take some time)  
~~~~

If you were to walk by Sarah Williams' apartment or workplace on just the right night, you might see something you don't see everyday. You would see a large black cat and a barn owl, perhaps sitting on the window ledges, or prowling through the alleyways. The way the owl and the cat would look at each other, with bright gleams in their eyes, would almost make you think they could speak. Many people had seen them, but no one really gave it much thought. They would tell stories about it sometimes. There's an owl and a cat, they'd say. You can see them running around all over town. Maybe they're off on some sort of adventure or something, they'd say.

Little did those people know just how true that was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought?
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read this story! <3  
> There will eventually be more in this "series"... Eventually.


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